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PENNSYLYANIA. 



THE 



HISTORY OF PEIMYLVANIA 



FROM ITS 



iB\[x\ml Milmul h tjiB ^xnml €mt 



EDITED BY 

W. H. CARPENTER, 

AND 

T. S. ARTHUR. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO. 

1854. 



q 



Entered axjcording to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by 

T. S. ARTHUR AND W. H. CARPENTER, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 

STEKEOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



PUBLISHEES' PREFACE. 



There are but few persons in this country who 
have not, at some time or other, felt the want of an 
accurate, well written, condse, yet clear and reliable 
history of their own or some other state. 

The want here indicated is now about being sup- 
plied; and, as the task of doing so is no light or 
superficial one, the publishers have given into the 
hands of the two gentlemen whose names appear in 
the title-page, the work of preparing a series of Cabi- 
net Histories, embracing a volume for each state in 
the Union. Of their ability to perform this well, we 
need not speak. They are no strangers in the literary 
world. What they undertake the public may rest 
assured will be performed thoroughly ; and that no 
sectarian, sectional, or party feelings will bias their 
judgment, or lead them to violate the integrity of 
history. 

The importance of a series of state histories like 
those now commenced, can scarcely be estimated. 
Being condensed as carefully as accuracy and interest 
of narrative will permit, the size and price of the 
volumes will bring them within the reach of every 
family in the country, thus making them home-read- 
ing books for old and young. Each individual will, 

1* 5 



PUBLISHERS PREFACE. 



in consequence, become familiarj not only with the 
history of his own state, but with that of other states : 
— thus mutual interest will be re-awakened, and old 
bonds cemented in a firmer union. 

In this series of Cabinet Histories, the authors, 
while presenting a concise but accurate narrative of 
the domestic policy of each state, will give greater 
prominence to the personal history of the people. 
The dangers which continually hovered around the 
early colonists ; the stirring romance of a life passed 
fearlessly amid peril; the incidents of border war- 
fare; the adventures of hardy pioneers; the keen 
watchfulness, the subtle surprise, the ruthless attack, 
and prompt retaliation — all these having had an im- 
portant influence upon the formation of the American 
character, are to be freely recorded. While the progres- 
sive development of the citizens of each individual state 
from the rough forest-life of the earlier day to the 
polished condition of the present, will exhibit a pic- 
ture of national expansion as instructing as it is inte- 
resting. 

The size and style of the series will be uniform 
with the present volume. The authors, who have 
been for some time collecting and arranging materials, 
will furnish the succeeding volumes as rapidly as their 
careful preparation will warrant. 



PREFACE. 



The older histories of Pennsylvania are usually 
considered obnoxious to the double charge of 
prolixity and dulness ; grave faults, which it is 
believed will be found to have been avoided in 
the present volume. The quiet and subdued 
character of the first settlers, their pacific doc- 
trines, their conscientious adherence to treaty 
stipulations, and unvarying kindness to their 
Indian neighbours, leave their annals rarely 
marked by stories of war and bloodshed. 

But the history of Pennsylvania is not with- 
out its own peculiar interest. The mild, saga- 
cious, and statesmanlike character of Penn, its 
founder ; the disputes of the assembly with the 
various proprietary governors; and, above all, 
the solution of the grand moral problem of a 



8 PREFACE. 



State founded without violence, and growing 
rajDidly in wealth and population without exciting 
the jealousy of the aborigines, are lessons in 
morals and policy which may be profitably stu- 
died even at the present day. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



William Penn-His parentage-His birth-Cireumstances of 
ills youth— Politics and polemics— William Penn at Chio-- 
nvf 1 Tr""^^ religious impressions-He is entered at 
Uxtord-Thomas Loe— Penn is expelled for nonconformity 
—Forbidden his father'* house— Sent to make the tour of 
the Continent-Encounter in Paris-His reflections upon it 
— Heads theology with Amyrault— Returns a courtier— En- 
ters at Lincoln's Inn— He is sent to Ireland— He desires a 
military command— His father refuses to gratify him— Cor- 
respondence on the subject-Penn takes charge of his 
father s estates near Cork-Thomas Loe again-Penn ioins 
the Society of PViends-Is imprisoned with others-D ! 
charged by the President of Munster-Recalled to London 
— Differenee;with his father— Imprisoned for heresy— First 
imprisonment in Newgate-Second imprisonment in New- 
fn™ fi""^ ^'^"^'^^ Penn-Penn becomes a trustee 
outh Pi-«P"etors of New Jersey— Review of his 

Page 19 



CHAPTER IL 

Penn's position at the court of Charles IL— His personal rela- 
tions with all shades of faith and politics-AlgSn Siclney 
— Ihe royal grant of a province to William Penn— Abstract 
of the charter-Its resemblance to that of Maryland-Na 
hls'teL 'n? ' |^""£.^~Character of his powers-Mistak; in 
his terms of sale— His estimate of the grant— Philanthronie 
ri P^wfSf T :-^t. America-lfing's proiwin 
and Penn s letter to the inhabitants of his province-Lands 
offered for sale-Terms-Penn's conditions with purchasers 

9 



10 CONTENTS. 



—Commissioners sent over— Their instructions— Site of a 
town— Letter of Penn to the Indians— Peun refuses to sell 
a monpoly— Notice of the Society of Free Traders— Their 
city property-Society Hill P^9^ 40 



CHAPTER III. 

Preface to Penn's Frame of Government— Consultations about 
the Frame— Antagonistic influences— Deed of release from 
the Duke of York— The territories— Penn's embarkation— 
His fellow-passengers— Death of his mother— Farewell- 
Letter to Stephen Crisp— The passage— Sickness on board 
—Penn's arrival at New Castle— At Upland, now Chester 
—Reception— Preliminaries of government— Landing at 
Philadelphia— Intercourse with the Indians— Visit to New 
York— Treaty at Shackamaxon— Indian respect for Penn— 
Tradition of his speech— Presumed terms of the treaty— 
Pennsbury 



59 



CHAPTER IV. 

First provincial legislature-Act of se^ttlement-Act of union 
—Naturalization-Code of laws-Preamble and first sec- 
tions-Religious toleration-Abolishment of primogeniture 
— Privileael of citizens— Humanity of the code— batisfac- 
tion of the people-The Maryland boundary-Points in 
dispute-Protracted controversy-Mason and Dixon s line 
—Boundary troubles-Meeting of the council and assembly 
at Philadelphia-Adjustment of the Frame of Government 
-Leading particulars- William Penirs opinion of his 
powers-Laws passed and laws not passed-Treason-Style 
of acts-Only witchcraft trial-Trial of a counterfeiter- 
Why was Anthony Weston whipped? »" 



CHAPTER V. 

Penn's return to England-Appointment of provincial judges 
and other officers— Number and character ot the inhabitants 
of the colouy-Review of the Dutch an,l ,^^-^^^ish occupa- 
tion— Henry Hudson— Captain Corndlu^ Im ob May— Cap- 



CONTENTS. 



11 



tain De Vrees— The Sweedish settlers— Wiccaco—CantiJn 
Sven-The old Swedes church-The Dutch rule-Swedlh 
intercourse with the natives-xMinisink-The British acoui 
suion m 1664-Grant to the Duke of York t^f tt fuX\" 
Dutch possessions-Extract of a letter from William Penn 
-Boundary dispute with Lord Baltimore-Indian treaties 
-Selection of Coaquanuock as the site for a town-Phila 
delphia founded-Dwellings on the river bank-Annals of 
emigx-ants-Birth of John Key-Anecdotes of the eady sel 
tlers— Experiences of Elizabeth Hard ..p'^^^ 9. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Aspect of things in England-Penn's difficult position-Death 
of Charles II., and accession of James-Penn's account nf 
events-Proclamation of James in Philadelph a-Z^^^^^^^^ 
ment of Nicholas Moore-His refusal to plead-Other colo" 
mal difficulties-Humours with England-ExtractT from 
Penn's correspondence -His influelice at court-Mon 
Jpenn ^"^j'^-^f «VVenality and cruelty-Vindieat on 
ot Penn— Threatened colonial difficulties— Dangers to the 
proprietary governments-Penn appoints a board of com 
missioners-Their instructions-Appointment of a lieu- 
tenant-govenior-Stormy administration-Penn's embar 
rassments-Neglect by the colony of the propiSv,: 
wishes-Revolution of 1688-Political suspicion^ ata nst 
Penn-Persecuted by his enemies-He is compelled to 

CHAPTER VII. 

News of the revolution received in Philadelphia-Action of 
the council thereon-Separation of the territories from the 
province-Two deputy-governors-George Keith-The u 
risdictaon of the governor of New York extended 0"^ 
Pennsylvania-Administration of Governor Eletcher-He 
appoints Colone Markham his deputy-William Pen re n! 

?M;^p''en^'o^Th'''^' Ti" f tp"^^-"«— ^-^-th 

01 Mis fenn— Ot Thomas Lloyd— Markham's administra 
tion-^e^ act of settlement-Its democratic S^es- 
Charge of piracy and illicit trade-Arrival of William Penn 
111 his colony-His welcome-Birth of "The Amerkau" 



12 CONTENTS. 



Penn meets the legislature — His activity in his government 
— New charter of privileges — Charter of Philadelphia — 
Differences about titles and quit-rents — Failure to obtain 
money for colonial defence — Rumours of intended changes 
in the charters — Return of Penn to England Page 127 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Governor Hamilton — Refusal of the territories and the pro- 
vince to unite — Growing opposition to the proprietary 
interest — First Episcopal church in Pennsylvania — Go- 
vernor Evans — His character — False alarm of invasion — 
Consternation and serious consequences — Heroism and con- 
sistency of the Quakers — Results of this foolish farce — 
Fort at New Castle — Bold conduct of a Quaker shipowner 
— Recall of Evans — Events in England — Penn's position at 
the court of Queen Anne — His family, pecuniary, and other 
misfortunes — Governor Gookin appointed — Continued dif- 
ficulties with the assembly — Refusal to raise money for 
defence — The governor declines to pass the bills enacted — 
Incautious admission relative to the council — Logan pre- 
sents David Lloyd — The. assembly acquit their speaker—. 
Logan arrested by the speaker's warrant — He is released 
by "the governor — Letter of William Penn to the assembly 
— Election of a new house — Restoration of harmony — Close 
of Governor Gookin's administration 142 



CHAPTER IX. 

Death of Queen Anne and accession of George I. — Decay of 
William Penn — His last hours — His religious and political 
character — Contemplated sale of the government to the 
crown — Management of affairs during Penn's illness — 
Penn's will and heirs — Protracted litigation — Governor 
Keith — His activity, sauvity, and tact — Meets the assem- 
blies of the territories and the province — His opening mes- 
sage to the latter — Good feeling on both sides — Liberal 
grant of money by the assembly — A chancery court esta- 
blished by proclamation — A militia created — Expulsion of 
Ashton from the council — Veto of naturalization law — 
Measures against convict passengers — Indian relations — 



CONTENTS. 13 



Prosperity of the colony — Difficulty between Keith and the 
council — The governor removes Logan from his offices — 
Logan visits England, and returns with instructions for his 
reinstatement — Keith vindicates his conduct, and refuses to 
comply — He transmits the correspondence to the assembly 
— Logan memorializes that body — The assembly vote the 
governor one thousand pounds — Keith superseded by Go- 
vernor Gordon — Benjamin Franklin and Keith.. ....... Pa^e 155 



CHAPTER X. 

Answer of Hannan Penn to the assembly's remonstrance- 
Reflection upon Keith — Close of his life — Arrival of Go- 
vernor Gordon — Quiet temper of the assembly — Affirma- 
tions — Salt tax abolished — Agent in England api^ointed — 
His usefulness and efficiency — Franklin commences busi- 
ness in Philadelphia — New emission of paper — Franklin's 
efforts to promote it — Opposition of proprietaries — Franklin 
clerk of the house — Commencement of the Philadelphia 
Library — Indian treaty expenses — Land purchases — Lan- 
caster county set off from Chester — Question of toleration 
of Roman Catholic worship — The court of chancery abo- 
lished — Arrival of Thomas and John Penn — An unlucky 
poet — Death of Governor Gordon — Logan president — 
Boundary dispute with Maryland 171 



CHAPTER XL 

Governor Thomas — His attempts to induce the assembly to 
make warlike preparations — Declaration of war between 
England and Spain — Instructions from England — The as- 
sembly frames a supply-bill, but adjourns without passing 
it — Enlistment of bond-servant? — Disputes upon this sub- 
ject — Refusal of the house to vote money until the servants 
were discharged — Thomas Penn supports the governor — 
The merchants of Philadelphia and the council remonstrate 
with the assembly — The money bill passes, with condi- 
tions — The governor declines to avail himself of it — The 
house applies the money to the payment of masters who 
had lost their servants — Governor Thomas demands the 
equipment of armed vessels — The house refuses it — Thomas 

2 



14 CONTENTS. 



Penn returns to England— Quarrel about the appointment 
of a port physician — Governor Thomas sweeps his oppo- 
nents from office — Election riot — Compromise between the 
governor and the assembly — Franklin's public services — 
Volunteer military preparations — Resignation of Governor 
Thomas Page 182 



CHAPTER XII. 

Exposed condition of the Delaware River — Arrival of Go- 
vernor Hamilton — The " Indian walk" — Penn's method of 
measuring land by pacing it — Movements of speculators — 
Exasperation of Indians — Production of old treaties — Spe- 
culative mode of pacing boundaries — The Indians remon- 
strate — Compelled to submit by more powerful tribes — Evil 
results — French intrigues — Disputes between the governor 
and the legislature — Franklin a member of the house — 
George Washington — Expedition against Fort Duquesne — 
Capitulation of the Virginians to the French — Governor 
Hamilton appeals to the assembly for supplies — Evasion 
of his request — Governor Hamilton superseded by Governor 
Morris — Conference with the Six Nations at Albany — In- 
dian opinions of the English and French — Unfortunate 
purchase by the Pennsylvania commissioners — Franklin's 
plan of union betAveen the provinces — His account of Go- 
vernor Morris — The Pennsylvania Hospital — James Logan 

— Reform of calendar — Restrictions on manufactures 

Navigation Acts — Illiberal policy of the Board of Trade — 
Philadelphia ship building — North-West passage 192 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Commencement of the dispute between Governor Morris and 
the assembly — Arrival of General Braddock — Services of 
Franklin in providing means of transportation — Action of 
the legislature — Aid to Massachusetts — Continued legisla- 
tive difficulties — Disastrous folly of General Braddock — His 
defeat — Services of Washington as a volunteer — Dispute 
about proprietary taxes — Consequent embarrassment — The 
project to give bounty lands condemned by the assembly 
— Indian depredations — Continued disputes upon financial 



CONTENTS. 15 



matters— Petitions and remonstrances— Proprietary dona- 
tion — The Supply Bill passed — Excise Bill defeated — 
Franklin's Militia Bill— Course of the Quakers— Volunteer 
military — Declaration of war against the Indians — Labours 
of the Quakers to promote peace— Council at Easton— Re- 
signation of Quaker members of the assembly— Close of 
Governor Morris's administration Page 213 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Destruction of the Indian town of Kittanning— Important 
effects of this victory— Movements of the Quakers— Friendly 
association— Negotiations with the Indians— Formal de- 
claration of war between England and France- Governor 
Denny's instructions — Temporary submission of the house 

Impolicy of the Penns— Review of the instructions of 

Franklin— His mission to England— His vindication of the 
province through the London press— The Historical Review 

The proprietaries appear before the Board of Trade — 

Franklin appears for the province— The question decided 
in favour of the assembly— Franklin's advice in relation to 
the war — Pitt prime minister— Operations of the army — 
Capture of Louisburg, Fort Frontenac, and Fort Duquesne 
— Ticonderoga, Niagara, and Quebec— Capitulation of Mon- 
treal—Close of the war— Royal disapprobation and pro- 
vincial indifference— Renewed Indian murders— The fron- 
tiers depopulated— Relief of Fort Pitt— The Paxton Mas- 
sacre Danger of the Moravian Indians — Manly conduct 

of Philadelphia— Vigorous measures to close the war — 
Expedition of Colonel Bouquet to Muskingum— Restoration 
of prisoners — Peace with the Indians 230 



CHAPTER XV. 

Governor John Penn— His construction of the tax law— Reso- 
lutions of the assembly— Petition to the crown— Franklin 
elected speaker— British policy toward the colonies— Frank- 
lin loses his election to the legislature— Sent to England as 
colonial agent— The Stamp Act passed— The effect in Ame- 
rica— "Sons of Liberty"— Arrival of the stamps at Phila- 
delphia—Union of the colonies— Non-importation— Phila- 



16 CONTENTS. 



delphia proceedings — Stamp Act repealed — Declaratory 
Act — New revenue laws — Awakened resistance — Pennsyl- 
vania resolutions — Non-importation again — Repeal of a 
portion of the obnoxious duties — The principle still main- 
tained — First bloodshed in Boston — The Wyoming dispute 
— Death of Teedyuscuug — First Wyoming massacre — Dis- 
pute with Virginia — Death of Logan the Indian chief.. Po^e 252 



CHAPTER XVL 

The tea difficulties — Indignation of the colonists — Destruc- 
tion of the obnoxious article — Meeting in Philadelphia — 
Retaliatory acts of the British Parliament — Quebec Act — 
Meetings in Philadelphia — Provincial conference — Instruc- 
tions to state assembly — Continental Congress — Massachu- 
setts supported — Declaration of rights — Articles of associa- 
tion — Petitions and memorials — Committee of correspond- 
ence — Action of state assemblies — Governor Penn's remon- 
strance — Proceedings of the British ministrj^ — More oppres- 
sive acts — Lord North's plan of conciliation — Provincial 
convention — Testimony of Friends — Thomas Mifflin — Lord 
North's proposal I'ejected — Affair of Lexington — Excite- 
ment in consequence — Military association — Quaker Blues 
— Continental Congress — Franklin appointed postmaster- 
general — Pennsylvania assembly — Committee of safety — 
Governor Penn — Bunker Hill — Pennsylvania committee of 
safety — State of parties — Instructions to delegates in Con- 
gress — Military duty made compulsory' — Evacuation of 
Boston — Popular excitement in favour of change — Congress 
resolve awaj^ allegiance to Great Britain — First war-alarm* 
near Philadelphia — The assembly meet — The people pro- 
test — Resolution of Congress in favour of independence — 
The assembly rescind their instructions — Provincial con- 
ference — Declaration of independence — Pennsylvania con- 
vention — End of the charter government 269 



CHAPTER XVIL 

Arrival of General and of Admiral Howe at New York — 
Failure of a commission to treat with the colonies — Read- 



CONTENTS. IT 



ing of the Declaration — The new State constitution — Re- 
treat of Washington through New Jersey — Philadelphia 
menaced — The battles of Trenton and Princeton — With- 
drawal of the British from Jersey — Landing on the Dela- 
ware — Battle of Brandy wine — Affair at Paoli — Occupation 
of Philadelphia by the British — Fortification of the Dela- 
ware — Removal of Congress inland — Battle of Germantown 
— The storming of Fort Mercer — The British occupy Pro- 
vince Island — Forts Mifflin and Mercer evacuated by the 
Americans Paj^ 295 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Attempted surprise of Washington's camp — Skirmishing and 
retreat of the British — Manner in which the Americans 
were warned — Encampment at Valley Forge — Destitution 
and distress of the army — Embarrassment of the country — 
Treaties with France — Lord North's proposition to Franklin 
— His proposed measures of conciliation — Lord North's pro- 
positions circulated in America — Resolutions of Congress — 
Foraging operations of the British — Narrow escape of La- 
fayette — Evacuation of Philadelphia — Battle of Monmouth 
— Arrival of British commissioners — Refusal of Congress to 
treat with them — Tampering with individuals — Departure 
of the commissioners — Wyoming — LTnadilla — Cherry Val- 
ley — British conquest of Georgia and South Carolina — 
Revolt of the Pennsylvania and Jersey troops — Turn of 
affairs at the South — The Cowpens — Guilford — Yorktown 
— Close of the war 311 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Treason trials — Benedict Arnold — President Reed — Difficulties 
of his position — Philadelphia benevolence — The Wilson riot 
— Extinguishment of the Penn titles — Gradual abolition of 
slavery — Articles of confederation — Difficulties of govern- 
ment-— State of the public mind — Discontent in the array — 
Noble conduct of the disbanded troops — Emeute in Phila- 
delphia — Military heroes — Franklin — Morris — Bank of 
North America — Indian difficulties 323 

2^ 



18 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Federal convention proposed. — Adoption of a constitution for 
the United States — New constitution of Pennsylvania — 
Subsequent amendments — Political history of Pennsylvania 
— Democratic character of the people — -Whisky insurrection 
— House-tax diflSculties — Common-school law — Internal 
improvements — Financial embarrassments — Integrity of the 
Pennsylvania legislators — Financial condition of the state 
— Coal trade — Iron, and other manufactures — Philadelphia 
— Its original extent — Present dimensions — Seat of govern- 
ment removed to Harrisburg — Conclusion Page 343 



HISTORY OF PEMSYLVANIA. 



CHAPTER I. 



William Penn — His parentage — His birth— Circumstances of 
his youth— Politics and polemics — William Penn at Chig- 
well — His early religious impressions — He is entered at Ox- 
ford — Thomas Loe — Penn is expelled for nonconformity — 
Forbidden his father's house — Sent to make the tour of the 
Continent — Encounter in Paris — His reflections upon it — 
Reads theology with Amjrault — Returns a courtier— Enters 
at Lincoln's Inn — He is sent to Ireland— He desires a mili- 
tary command — His father refuses to gratify him — Corre- 
spondence on the subject — Penn takes charge of his father's 
estates, near Cork — Thomas Loe again — Penn joins the 
Society of Friends — Is imprisoned with others — Discharged 
by the President of Munster — Recalled to London — Ditfer- 
ence with his father — Imprisoned for heresy — First imprison- 
ment in Newgate — Second imprisonment in Newgate — 
Death of Admiral Penn— Penn becomes a trustee for one of 
the proprietors of New Jersey — Review of his youth. 

The first chapter in the history of Pennsyl- 
vania is the life of William Penn. Though so 
recent an historical character, yet it is remark- 
able that the circumstances of his life are not 
familiar. He holds a position in the popular 
mind indefinitely great, yet little understood. 

19 



20 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1644. 

His personal character challenges respect. The 
anomalies of his proprietary government have 
exposed him to mistake, and, in some cases, to 
uncharitable animadversion. A calmly written 
and unprejudiced history of Pennsylvania is 
William Penn's best biography. The reader of 
such a history will rise from the perusal with 
definite ideas of the great services the "Quaker 
sovereign" has rendered to humanity. A dis- 
passionate review of his life, and of the history 
of his colony, alone can save him from the great 
injustice which he has suffered from the resultant 
effects of overpraise. 

William Penn was born to wealth and dis- 
tinguished rank; advantages to which, in his 
youth, he does not appear to have been insen- 
sible, and which his characteristic prudence for- 
bade that he should ever entirely lose sight of. 
His father was Sir William Penn, an English 
naval officer of high reputation, won in constant 
and active service. His life was a series of suc- 
cesses. He defended the naval honour of the 
Commonwealth under Cromwell, was promoted 
under the Protectorate, and knighted at the 
Restoration. The son of a naval captain, at one- 
and-twenty he was appointed captain ; at twenty- 
three. Rear- Admiral of Ireland ; at twenty-five, 
Vice-Admiral ; at twenty-nine. Admiral to the 
Straits; and at thirty-one, Vice-Admiral of 
England. 



1644.] LIFE OF PENN. 21 

The birth of William Penn took place on the 
14th day of October, 1644, in the parish of St. 
Catharine's, Tower Hill, London. His father 
was early married; and Penn's birth taking 
place about the time of his first promotion, as 
the lad increased in years, his young ears were 
filled with the eclat of his father's advancement 
in honour. Under all the circumstances of his 
early life, we can but wonder at his successful 
resistance of the world's temptations. Far from 
being surprised at his evident hesitancy at seve- 
ral periods, whether to embrace preferment or 
deny all for his principles, we might be astonish- 
ed at his final victory, were it not that the 
founding of a commonwealth afforded him at 
last the opportunity to reconcile ambition with 
duty; and while he innocently gratified the 
former, made it subservient to the higher de- 
mands of the latter. It was a compromise 
which has profited the world, and conferred 
posthumous fame on William Penn. But while 
he lived it only increased the mental "exercise" 
which made his days weary, without bringing 
that rest for which his soul thirsted. 

The mother of William Penn was the daughter 
of John Jasper, of Rotterdam. Her character 
was another proof of the rule, that the mothers 
of great men are women of a superior mould. 
Besides the advantages which he received from 
her personal instructions, it- is not to be ques- 



22 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1644. 

tioned that her foreign extraction gave Penn 
some of the spirit which he afterward exhibited, 
of wide-world liberality. He derived thus large 
and generous views of men and things. He was 
for all men and all time. He was not a Briton, 
with his horizon bounded to his native isle, but 
carried his testimony into far lands ; and desired 
also, in the new world, to embrace the savage 
children of the forest in the compact of Christian 
love. 

William Penn grew to manhood during a 
period when the popular mind was distracted 
with religious controversy. Politics and pole- 
mics were blended; a fusion which never causes 
immediate good results in either, causing bitter- 
ness and fury in politics, and scandalizing reli- 
gion. Fighting religionists wiped their bloody 
hands to open the Bible; and scoffing cavaliers, 
with not less inconsistency, profanely swore 
fealty to a religion of whose true principles they 
knew nothing. Christianity was passing through 
a fiery trial, and suffered reproach by its con- 
nection with human dynasties and popular pas- 
sions. It was prostituted on the one hand to the 
purposes of tyranny, and polluted on the other 
as the rallying cry of martial zealots and infu- 
riated destroyers of temples. Kings claimed 
under it the right to govern wrong, and regicide 
drew its sanction from the same abused source. 
The men of most mark were formalists and 



1644.] LIFE OF PENN. 23 

zealots; and moderate loyalists and national 
republicans were borne down, in their efforts to 
preserve the balance between such opposite and 
extreme influences. The political result was 
reached after three revolutions. The republic 
triumphed, and the king was beheaded. The 
loyalists were restored, and the living regicides 
were sacrificed, while the dead were unearthed, 
to suffer a tardy and childish indignity. The 
"right divine" of kings was ignored, in the 
dethronement of its weak representative and 
the welcome of William and Mary. Consistent 
prelates refused to take the oath of fealty, and 
the extreme notions of old legitimists were 
buried with them. From this day, rather than 
from Magna Charta, do the political franchises 
of England date. Every effort to restore the 
old has resulted in a further avouchment of the 
true relative position of the governing and the 
governed. Amid these scenes of blood and of 
contention, "pure religion and undefiled" blush- 
ed for the zeal of her advocates "not according 
to knowledge." "Quakerism," born in the 
tumult, and in its infantile manifestations as 
quarrelsome as any in its own way, grew rapidly 
sedate, and won strength by its "sufferings." 
The "people called Quakers," putting forward 
as their distinguishing tenets those practical 
religious principles which the vain and bloody 
world had most neglected, increased apace. 



24 HISTORY or PENNSYLVANIA. [1659. 

They are only less now a "peculiar people," as 
all Christians are united with them in the essen- 
tial doctrines of charity and peace, of which 
they were once the marked and despised de- 
fenders. 

Such were the influences under which William 
Penn's early character was formed ; and even to 
the end of his days, his life was shadowed by 
the crimes, or aifected by the caprices of kings 
and courts. It is highly honourable to his me- 
mory, that the most searching investigations 
have failed to fix any greater reproach upon 
him than some natural weaknesses. He comes 
out spotless in an age when men were not over- 
scrupulous; and the fact that his colony impove- 
rished him, is the best line in his epitaph. 

William Penn's education commenced at a 
grammar school at Chigwell, in Essex ; and here, 
in his boyhood, he gave an earnest of his future 
eminence, by his application and proficiency. 
He appears to have been, notwithstanding his 
parentage, a ''born Friend," for he was remark- 
able in early youth for a well-balanced charac- 
ter. He was not only studious in school hours, 
but active and hilarious out of doors. The only 
son of his father — for his brother died in infancy 
— young Penn was entered at the age of fifteen 
as a gentleman-commoner at Christ Church, 
Oxford. He had previously enjoyed advantages 
commensurate with his early development of 



1659.] LIFE OF PEIy^N. 25 

mind and character. His peculiar religious 
views were early impressed upon him. His 
biographer, Clarkson, relates that, being alone 
in his chamber, at Chigwell, "he was suddenly 
surprised with an inward comfort, and, as he 
thought, an external glory in the room, which 
gave rise to religious emotions; during which 
he had the strongest convictions of the being of 
a God, and that the soul of man was capable of 
enjoying communion with him." He believed 
that at that moment, <'the seal of divinity had 
been put upon him, and that he had been awak- 
ened or called to a holy life." George Fox, the 
founder of the Society of Friends, had at this 
date been a public preacher about eight years. 
In all the notices of Penn's childhood which we 
have seen, there is no record preserved of the 
character of his early reading. But we cannot 
doubt that the species of literature and inter- 
course which ripened, in 1662, into that remark- 
able and beautiful allegory, the Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress, being the popular literature and language 
with a large part of the English nation, reached 
young Penn at Chigwell. Formalism in religion 
and dissoluteness in manners provoked a reac- 
tion, and William Penn was educated when dis- 
sent presented its strongest appeals to thinking 
minds. 

At Oxford, William Penn received a positive 
direction in the path in which he became after- 

3 



26 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1661. 

ward distinguished. Moved by the preaching 
of Thomas Loe, a member of the Society of 
Friends, his Chigwell impressions were revived. 
The controversial writings of the day, to which 
he was soon to become a great contributor, were 
now his delight ; while in his college course he 
was remarkable as a hard student, giving early 
evidence of ripe scholarship. In manly exercises 
and out-door recreations he was the peer of his 
young associates. With an eye to practical 
purposes, he read deeply in history and theo- 
logy, and became a proficient in several modern 
languages. His favourite idea of an empire in the 
New World was conceived even as early as during 
his residence at Oxford; and the political fea- 
tures of his new commonwealth were probably 
developed by Harrington's famous "Oceana," 
and the numerous pamphlets which preceded 
and followed it. Indeed, the germs of mai-ny of 
our modern political institutions and practices 
may be traced to the theories of those old 
thinkers and dreamers. What they saw in 
visions, we have verified in action. 

William Penn found young men of kindred 
minds, who met with him for worship, withdraw- 
ing from the regular church service. An at- 
tempt to restore the costume and other discipline 
of Oxford, which had fallen into disuse, provoked 
the active opposition of the young enthusiasts; 
and Penn, with others, was expelled for noncon- 



1662.] LIFE OF PENN. 27 

formity. His father was highly indignant at 
this sudden close to his academic career, and by 
persuasions and threats endeavoured to change 
the purposes of his son. At length, exasperated 
at his firmness, he inflicted blows upon him, and 
forbade him the house. We are not, however, 
to think that the administration of personal 
chastisement upon a lad of seventeen indicated 
any enmity between the parties. The mother 
had no great difficulty in procuring his restora- 
tion to the house ; and the admiral tried another 
mode of eff'ecting what force had failed to do. 
He sent him to France, under the escort of some 
persons of rank, in whose society he trusted that 
his son's bias might be altered. Young Penn 
was presented at court, and appears to have 
given his father great satisfaction. Arrange- 
ments were already made for his entrance into 
the army. His dress' at this period was that of 
a cavalier, and his associations such as his father 
desired for him. Of his aptitude as a swords- 
man an incident is recorded, which shows that 
among his accomplishments this had not been 
forgotten. For some oifence, real or imagined 
— it would appear, from Penn's own allusion, a 
breach of courtesy — he was attacked by a gen- 
tleman in 'Paris. So skilfully did he defend 
himself, that he not only escaped unhurt, but dis- 
armed without wounding his antagonist. Penn 
thus refers to the encounter, in his work en- 



28 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1664. 

titled, "No Cross, No Crown:" "What envy, 
quarrels, and mischief have happened among 
private persons, upon their conceit that they 
have not been respected, according to their de- 
gree of quality among men, with hat, knee, or 
title. Suppose he had killed me, (for he made 
several passes at me,) or that I, in my defence, 
had killed him, I ask any man of understanding 
or conscience, if the whole round of ceremony 
were worth the life of a man, considering the 
dignity of his nature and the importance of his 
life, with respect to God his creator, himself, 
and the benefit of civil society?" A sensible 
question, very well put. 

Cavalier though he outwardly seemed, young 
Penn was no idler or trifler. He improved his 
acquaintance with modern languages, and found 
time also for severer studies, themes through his 
whole life congenial. He spent some months at 
Saumur, in the society of Moses Amyrault, a 
Protestant divine of high reputation, and under 
his direction read the Christian Fathers, and 
pursued other theological inquiries. Thence he 
went to Italy, but, on reaching Turin, was re- 
called to England by his father. It is not to 
be forgotten that he made, during this tour, 
the acquaintance of Algernon Sidney. This ac- 
quaintance afterward ripened into intimacy, and 
produced no small influence upon Penn's politi- 
cal views. 



1665-] LIFE OF PENN. 29 

Returned from abroad, his father was so much 
delighted with his appearance and manners, 
that he caused him to be presented to the king, 
and promoted his intercourse Avith the circle 
which, least of all, could revive or foster his 
slumbering attachment to the ^« people called 
Quakers." Accomplished and elegant, travelled 
and learned, competent to converse, and able 
also (a rare gift) to trifle gracefully, Penn made, 
in the polite world what would now be termed a 
"sensation." He wrote songs for the ladies^ 
and is noticed by a contemporary as a "most 
modish fine gentleman." But we are not for a 
moment to suppose that the purity of his morals 
yielded before temptation. Perhaps he was the 
more a phenomenon that, amid the dissoluteness 
which fashion defended, William Penn remained 
pure. 

His father, who seems at last to have learned 
his character, now discerned that nothing but 
providing other mental occupation could secure 
his son from his serious affinities and tenden- 
cies. William Penn was entered a student at 
Lincoln's Inn, that he might acquire such a 
knowledge of the laws and constitution of the 
kingdom, as should be the qualification of every 
man whoso- position gives him influence, and 
whose leisure permits study. Admiral Penn 
was for a season absent on a naval expedition. 
He returned, elated with his victory over Opdam, 

3* 



30 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1666. 

to find the son again inclined to the course and 
opinions from which, though for a time diverted, 
he could not be turned. The breaking out of 
the plague interrupted his residence in London, 
and the scenes of horror which he witnessed 
awakened the serious thoughts which his con- 
science had rebuked him for suppressing. His 
father saw the danger, and sent him to Ireland, 
to the vice-regal court of the Duke of Ormond, 
then Lord-Lieutenant. The duke had a high 
regard and personal friendship for Admiral 
Penn. This alone would have procured him 
distinction, the favour of the lord-lieutenant, 
in his court, being as absolute a recommendation 
as the honour of a king in a larger sphere. Here 
again William Penn was a phenomenon. At 
this period was painted the only portrait of the 
founder of Pennsylvania ever taken from the 
life. Among all the cavaliers there are few so 
beautiful. There is a look of placid firmness in 
the face, strength and gentleness blended, which 
readily incline us to believe that such a young 
man was a favourite with high-born dames and 
gallant cavaliers. He is clothed in the armour 
of the times, and the picture presents a singular 
contrast to the popular portraits. A copy of 
the painting is in the possession of the Histori- 
cal Society of Pennsylvania, a present from his 
descendant, Granville Penn. 

Now came the real tm-ning-point in the life of 



1666.] LIFE OF PENN. 31 

William Penn. In 1666 a mutiny took place 
among the soldiers in the garrison at Carrick- 
fergus. The Lord of Arran, second son of the 
Duke of Ormond, was sent to suppress it. Young 
Penn accompanied him as a volunteer. Such 
was the coolness and courage which the future 
apostle of peace displayed in the siege of the 
castle, that his commander, and other officers, 
and the Duke of Ormond, were anxious that 
young Penn should have a commission, and his 
own desires accorded with their wishes. His 
father, Admiral Penn, held the captaincy of a 
company of foot, at Carrickfergus — probably a 
sinecure, and certainly not a post to which a 
naval officer could devote any great attention. 
Ormond wrote a letter to the admiral, in which 
he says: "Remembering that you formerly 
made a motion for the giving up of your com- 
pany of foot here to your son, and observing his 
forwardness on the occasion of his repressing 
the late mutiny among the soldiers in this gar- 
rison, I have thought fit to let you know that I 
am willing to place the command of that com- 
pany in him, and desire you to send a resigna- 
tion to that purpose." 

The admiral, for what reason does not ap- 
pear, did not immediately answer this letter, 
and never acceded to the request. The above 
letter was written on the 29th of May. On the 
4th of July, following, we find William Penn 



32 HISTORY OF PENNSYLYAXIA. [1666. 

writing to his father. In this, the young man 
recounts all the facts relative to the desired ap- 
pointment. We give the letter entire, as a plea- 
sant specimen of the respectful pertinacity with 
which a son prefers a request which he fears 
may not be granted: — 

"Honourable Sir: When I was at Carrick- 
fergus, with my Lord Arran, Sir George Lane, 
in my Lord Dunagle's house, called me aside, 
and told me the character my Lord Arran 
had pleased to give his [Lord Arran's] father, 
obliged him [the Duke of Ormond] to write you 
a letter on my behalf, which was to surrender 
your government and fort. My lord-lieu- 
tenant himself, before a very great company, 
was pleased to call me to him, and asked whether 
you had not done it, and why? I answered, 
that you had once intended it, and that his 
lordship had promised to favour his request. 
To assure you of my lord's design, I saw the 
letter under his own hand, but am to seek 
whether Sir George Lane sent it or no, which I 
am to ask of yourself; my lord-lieutenant tell- 
ing me sometimes he wondered you never an- 
swered his letter. I excused it by the remote- 
ness of your present residence from London. 
If there be any under dealing, it is the secre- 
tary's fault, not my lord's. However, sir, I 
humbly conceive it may be necessary you take 
notice of my lord's kindness in a letter by the 



1666.] LIFE OF PENN. 33 

very first, since he has asked whether you had 
writ me any thing in reference to it. 

^'I beseech your answer to this, as also, if 
you please, an acknowledgment of my Lord 
Arran's great and daily kindness. I wish, sir, 
you may have respite from your troubles, and 
some refreshments from your continual toils, (we 
supposing the fleet to be near out.") 

This letter brought a reply which would almost 
seem to indicate that the father and son had 
changed characters: ''Son William: I have re- 
ceived two or three letters from you since I 
wrote any to you. Besides my former advice I 
can say nothing, but advise to sobriety, and all 
those things which will speak you a Christian 
and a gentleman, which prudence may make to 
have the best consistency. As to the tender 
made by his grace the lord-lieutenant, con- 
cerning the fort at Kinsale, I wish your youth- 
ful desires mayn't outrun your discretion. His 
grace may for a time dispense with my absence 
— yours he will not, for so he told me. God 
bless, direct, and protect you." 

Sir William wished his son to attend to his 
estates near Cork ; and it appears that this was 
one reason, if not the chief, why he declined re- 
signing to open for him the military appoint- 
ment. To these estates, by his father's request, 
young Penn repaired, and proved himself the 
exact and faithful man of business. He had 



34 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1666. 

the entire management of a large landed pro- 
perty, an occupation which fell in with his bene- 
volent feelings ; for in his gentle rule over the 
tenantry, he could promote their welfare, and 
serve his father's interests. But here, when 
least expected, particularly since he had so 
lately inclined to a military command, the 
young man's Oxford experience was revived. 
While on a visit to Cork, he heard that his old 
friend, Thomas Loe, was to preach in the 
"Friends' Meeting." Curiosity made William 
one of his hearers. He was desirous to perceive 
what impression would now be made upon his 
mind, by the preacher who had so deeply affect- 
ed him at Oxford, as to lead him to acts of non- 
conformity, and array his conscience against his 
interest. He had, moreover, a respect for 
Thomas Loe, and a friendship which in his sub- 
sequent writings he more than once declared. 

The experiment resulted in consequences which 
we are led to infer were farthest from the 
thoughts of the young courtier. Thomas Loe 
discoursed of faith — the true, which overcomes 
the world, and the spurious which is overcome. 
Penn's conscience smote him. ^' It was at this 
time," he says, "■ that the Lord visited me with a 
certain sound and testimony of his Eternal Word, 
through one of those the world called Quakers, 
namely, Thomas Loe." Penn's character was 
fixed. His name was written henceforth among 



1666.] LIFE OF PENN, 35 

the people with whose history it is now identified. 
He was an honour to the vocation he had chosen, 
and addressed himself without more hesitation, 
to bear <^ that great cross of resisting and watch- 
ino" ao-ainst his own inward vain aftections and 
thoughts." 

Security against any more retreating from his 
now well-considered purpose was soon presented. 
Persecution for conscience' sake is the confirma- 
tion of men and bodies of men in their opinions, 
and William Penn was soon enabled to '' give 
testimony through sufferings." He was arrested 
with others, in Cork, being present at a meeting 
of the "Friends," and being tendered a release 
upon giving bonds for his good behaviour, de- 
clined any such admission that his conduct had 
been otherwise. He was sent to prison, but re- 
leased unconditionally, upon his application by 
letter to the Lord President of Munster. It is 
noticeable that in this letter, which ably argues 
against the legality of his arrest, and conse- 
quently pleads for universal toleration, William 
Penn preserves the customary forms of address 
and etiquette. 

The rumour now soon gained currency in Eng- 
land that "young Penn had become a Quaker 
again, or some such melancholy thing," and his 
father summoned him home. The admiral en- 
deavoured to overcome his son's determination, 
and offered as a compromise that the now avow- 



36 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1669. 

ed Quaker should uncover in the presence of the 
king, the Duke of York, and himself. William 
Penn took time to consider, and declined to 
make the compromise. His father forbade him 
the house, and the young man lived upon an al- 
lowance privately conveyed to him by his mo- 
ther. He now openly adhered to the persecuted 
sect, and became one of the most industrious of 
their preachers and pamphleteers. He was arrest- 
ed on a charge of heresy, published in a pamph- 
let controversy with a Presbyterian clergyman, 
and committed to the Tower. He was nine 
months in prison, almost his only visitors being 
his own father and Dr. Stillinglleet. Of the 
latter, Penn says : "I am glad to own publicly 
the great pains he took, and humanity he show- 
ed ; and that to his moderation, learning, and 
kindness I will ever hold myself obliged." The 
prosecution was moved by the Bishop of London. 
Dr. Stillingfleet, afterward Bishop of Worcester, 
was a man of more tolerant spirit, and merited 
all that Penn has so courteously said of him. 
This is not the place to define theological differ- 
ences. It is suflScient to say of the alleged 
«' heresy," that in a pamphlet published by Penn, 
during his residence in the Tower, he showed 
that his language had been misunderstood. It 
was a dispute rather about the terms in which 
truth should be stated, than about the vital 
truths of Christianity. Soon after the publica- 



1670.] LIFE OF PEXN. S7 

tion of tlie pamphlet he was discharged from the 
Tower, his father's influence with the Duke of 
York having interested that nobleman in his 
cause. The imprisonment in the Tower appears 
to have reconciled his father, and to have pro- 
cured the admiral's high respect for a son who 
could so manfully contend for his principles, 
William Penn again returned to Ireland, to take 
charge of the family estates, and actively in- 
terested himself in the cause which he had es- 
poused. Returning to England, he was once 
more arrested, in September, 1670, under the 
" Conventicle Act." He defended himself skil- 
fully before the Old Bailey Sessions, and the jury 
refusing to convict, after being absent three days, 
returned with a verdict of " Not Guilty." The 
court, in an undigniiied passion, fined jurors and 
defendants '^ forty marks a man" for contempt 
of court, and committed them to Newgate until 
paid. William Penn's father caused his fine to 
be discharged, and summoned him to his bed- 
side to receive his dying blessing. 

The trial, to which our limits permit us only 
briefly to refer, was an important one, as leading 
to a more just appreciation of the rights of 
jurors and of defendants. Again, in the same 
year, he was arrested ; and as he had shown him- 
self, on a former occasion, too well acquainted 
with the law to be corrected under it, the aim of 
his persecutors was at this time reached by ten- 

4 



38 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1674. 

dering him the oath of allegiance. This he re- 
fused to take, not that he refused to acknowledire 
his allegiance, but because to take an oath was 
against his principles. He was sent to Newgate 
for six months, and occupied himself as usual 
with controversial writings and appeals to the 
authorities. The next ten years of his life were 
spent in active employment. He visited the 
continent with George Fox and Robert Barclay; 
he preached in various parts of England and 
Ireland ; he memorialized Parliament in behalf 
of the Quakers ; and appeared before a committee 
of the House of Commons to support his petition, 
that the word of a Friend might be taken in- 
stead of his oath, under the penalties of perjury. 
In many other modes, as he gained years and 
experience, he was perfecting himself for what 
he called the " Holy Experiment," namely, the 
foundation of a government in which perfect 
toleration should prevent religious persecution, 
and well-defined civil rights secure to all men 
equality. 

Net the least useful part of his experience was 
the arrangement of the affairs of John Fenwicke 
and Edward Byllinge — both members of the So- 
ciety of Friends. They were proprietors with 
Sir George Carteret of the colony of New Jer- 
sey ; Sir George owning the undivided half of 
the province. The two Friends had a business 
difference, which William Penn was called upon 



167G.] LIFE, OF PENN. 39 

as arbitrator to adjust. Bjllinge becoming em- 
barrassed, Penn, with others, was named his 
trustee. The trustees having arranged a parti- 
tion of the colony with Sir George Carteret, 
AYest New Jersey was largely peopled with the 
members of the society ; and William Penn ob- 
taining practical experience in the settlement of 
new colonies, had his thoughts turned anew to 
the pleasant dream of his youth — the establish- 
ment of a people with full liberty of conscience 
and equality of rights. 

Such was the early education of ^' The Found- 
er." Taught practically the value of religious 
liberty by persecution, and of civil liberty by 
the anarchy to which his early years were wit- 
ness, and experiencing in his own life the in- 
congruity of the union of Church and, State, he 
had large desires for the realization of the pos- 
sibility of escaping these evils under a new order 
of society. His tendency to theorize was ba- 
lanced by a various and practical education. A 
courtier by position ; a theologian by taste, im- 
proved by good instruction under the direction 
of Amyralt ; the friend of Locke and Algernon 
Sidney ; a good student of the laws of his 
country ; a traveller over the principal countries 
of Europe ; an able manager of estates and of 
colonies ; an acute observer of human nature ; 
a man of sincerity, philanthropy, and piety, and 
yet, so far as conscience would permit, a man of 



40 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1676. 

skilful expedients, William Penn possessed high 
rec^uisites for the labour he undertook. Like 
other philanthropists, however, he accomplished 
more for the world than for himself. It is the 
penalty of those who win for others to lose for 
themselves. 



CHAPTER II. 

Penn's position at the court of Charles II. — His personal rela- 
tions with all shades of faith and politics — Algernon Sidney 
— The royal grant of a province to William Penn — Abstract 
of the charter — Its resemblance to that of Maryland — Nature 
of Penn's tenure — Character of his powers — Mistake in his 
terms of sale — His estimate of the grant — Philanthropic mo- 
tives — Markham sent to America — King's proclamation, and 
Penn's letter to the inhabitants of his province — Lands 
offered for sale — Terms — Penn's conditions with purchasers 
— Commissioners sent over — Their instructions — Site of a 
town — Letter of Penn to the Indians — Penn refuses to sell a 
monopoly — Notice of the Society of Free Traders — Their city 
property — Society Hill. 

On his death-bed Admiral Penn secured the 
interest of the Duke of York for his son William. 
Both of the royal brothers appear to have enter- 
tained a high respect for Admiral Penn, and 
were read}^ to promise any thing which he de- 
sired. And they could the easier keep their 
pledge to William Penn, since what the young 
man desired neither impoverished the exchequer 



1681.] LIFE OF PEXN. 41 

nor interfered with government patronage. He 
was the suitor neither for place nor pension for 
himself or his friends. The favours he asked 
were in behalf of the great principle of tolerance, 
and freedom of thought and of worship ; and his 
plea availed the more that the inclination of 
Charles and James to the Latin church put them 
also in the position of pleaders for tolerance. 
What they granted to William Penn in behalf 
of Quakers and other Protestant dissenters, had 
a beneficial tendency toward the disfranchised 
members of the Roman communion ; and Penn 
thus became liable to the charge of being a 
Jesuit. We need not say now how unfounded 
was this allegation, though it was made a con- 
temporary means of no small annoyance to him. 
The Duke of Ormond, whose friendship to young 
Penn we have had occasion to notice, the Earl 
of Orrery, who released him from prison at Cork, 
Lord Arran, and others of Penn's friends, were 
also adherents of Rome. But, on the other hand, 
Tillotson and Stillingfleet, and other eminent 
men in the Church of England, and several of 
the leading Protestant dissenters, knew and loved 
the man. In his personal intercourse he stood 
in friendly relations with whigs, tories, and re- 
publicans ; though his political sympathies, when 
it was necessary to avow them, identified him 
with the latter party. He earnestly acted in 
behalf of Algernon Sidney, in that gentleman's 

4| 



42 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

abortive attempts to be returned to Parliament. 
He spared neither bis purse nor bis personal in- 
fluence ; be paid and pamphleteered in bebalf of 
bis friend. The result was the return of Sidney 
twice by the suffrages of the electors ; but neither 
the modes of nullifying a popular election nor 
the audacity to put them in practice, were want- 
ing on that day, and Sidney was refused bis seat. 
Living monuments of the friendship of Penn and 
Sidney abound in some districts of Pennsylvania, 
where the name of the latter, first given to chil- 
dren out of respect to the martyr in the cause 
of popular rights, has been <'re-given" to gene- 
ration after generation, and is indiscriminately 
conferred upon male and female. 

Penn's interest at court procured him in 1681 
the grant of the tract of land in America, now 
known as the State of Pennsylvania. Penn in- 
herited from his father a demand of sixteen 
thousand pounds, in part arrears of pay, and in 
part money advanced ; and the patent to William 
Penn cancelled this debt. After the necessary 
canvassings of rival claims, and the careful con- 
sideration of provisions, that the grant might 
not interfere with others, the patent of .Penn 
received the royal signature on the 4th day of 
March, 1681. Penn writes to a friend on the 
5th: — "This day my country was confirmed to 
me, under the great seal of England, with large 
powers and privileges, by the name of Pennsyl- 



1681.] CHARTER GRANTED. 43 

vania, a name the king would give it, in honour 
of mj father. * * * It is a clear and just thing, 
and my God that has given it to me through 
many difficulties, will, I believe, bless it, and 
make it che seed of a nation." The charter is 
said to have been drafted bj Penn himself, after 
the charter of JMar jland, and ,was revised by the 
crown officers, who made some amendments. What 
these amendments were, do not appear. But 
there, are two important variations from the 
Maryland charter, which may readily be inferred 
not to have originated with Penn. One of these 
reserves to Parliament the power to levj taxes 
and generally to legislate for the country ; and 
the other requires a copy of the colonial laws to 
be sent to England for the approbation of the 
Privy Council. The rest of the charter is in 
harmony with the charter of Maryland, even to 
the clause securing to the Bishop of London the 
appointment of a clergyman to reside in the 
province, upon the request of twenty inhabitants. 
The Bishop of London had, ex-officio, the eccle- 
siastical control of the colonies. Maryland was 
granted to patentees who were of the Eoman 
church— as much dissenters in England as the 
Friends were ; and though Penn's principles and 
practice made such a provision unnecessary, yet 
to admit it in adopting the rest would have 
seemed invidious. 

The preamble of the charter recites, as the 



44 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 



reason of the grant, the commendable desire of 
William Penn to enlarge the boundaries of the 
British empire by procuring commodities of 
trade, and to reduce the savage natives by 
just and gentle manners. And the merits 
of Admiral Penn were not forgotten in the 
enumeration of the motives which led to the 
royal grant. The boundaries defined by the 
charter were as follows : «' On the east by Dela- 
ware River, from twelve miles distance north- 
wards of New Castle town, unto the three and 
fortieth degree of northern latitude, if the said 
river doth extend so far northward; but if the 
said river shall not extend so far northward, 
then by the said river so far as it doth extend ; 
and from the head of the said river the eastern 
bounds are to be determined by a meridian line, 
to be drawn from the head of the said river unto 
the said forty-third degree. The said land to 
extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be 
computed from the eastern bounds; and the said 
lands to be bounded on the north by the three 
and fortieth degree of northern latitude, and on 
the south by a circle at twelve miles distance 
from New Castle, northward and westward unto 
the beginning of the fortieth degree of northern 
latitude, and then by a straight line westward 
to the limits of longitude above mentioned." 

The free use of the province, and all its in- 
cidents and products, and the fee of the soil, was 



1681.] POWERS OF THE CHARTER. 45 



granted to Penn in ''free and common socage, 
bj fealty only, for all services, and not in capite 
or knight service." This word "socage," de- 
rived from the Saxon "soke," a plough, is used 
to denote any tenure not military or quasi-mili- 
tary, but based on an annual rent. In Penn's 
charter this rent was fixed at two beaver skins 
annually, and one-fifth of any gold or silver ore 
which might be found in the province. Thus 
his tenure was a feudal one, though divested of 
burdensome feudal usages, for he was empowered 
by a special clause of his charter to sell or lease 
on any terms he chose, granting fee-simple or 
any other terms ; wheieas the English law, with- 
out this proviso, would have compelled him to 
lease to his sub-tenants in the same form by 
which he held of the king. In the contingency 
of leaving no heirs, the "seignory of Pennsyl- 
vania," one of the most magnificent ever held, 
would have reverted to the English sovereign, 
who, in the eye of the law is lord (or lady) para- 
mount over all lands. 

The powers conferred were ample, and almost 
absolute. The proprietor was empowered to 
enact laws with the assent of the freemen of the 
province ; to appoint judges and other officers ; 
to pardon crimes, murder and treason excepted ; 
to grant reprieves in all cases until the pleasure 
of the crown were known ; to make ordinances, 
(not afi"ecting the property or persons of indi- 



46 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

viduals) in cases requiring a prompt remedy, 
when the freemen could not be conveniently as- 
sembled ; to divide the province into towns, 
hundreds, and counties ; to incorporate towns, 
boroughs, and cities ; to erect manors ; to con- 
stitute fairs and markets, ports and harbours, at 
which the officers of the king's customs were to 
have free admission ; to levy duties on imports 
and exports, saving to the king such duties as 
should be levied by Act of Parliament. He was 
clothed with the powers of captain-general, and 
authorized to levy troops, and to make war by 
sea and land against neighbouring barbarous 
nations, pirates or robbers. He was required 
to keep an agent in or near London, to answer 
for any misdemeanour, on his part, against the 
laws regulating trade or navigation ; and in case 
of such misdemeanour, if reparation were not 
made within one year, the king might seize and 
retain the government until compensation should 
be made. He was forbidden to hold correspond- 
ence with any power at war with England, or to 
make war with any nation in amity with the 
parent country. 

It was provided that the laws of England, 
regulating property, defining crimes, and pre- 
scribing punishments, should continue in force, 
until altered by the provincial legislature ; and 
that duplicates of the colonial laws should be 
transmitted to the privy council within five 



1681.] POWERS OF THE CHARTER. 47 

years after their enactment, and if not disap- 
proved within six months after delivery, that 
they should continue in force ; that appeals from 
the decrees of the courts in civil cases might he 
made to the king in council ; that English sub- 
jects might freely transport themselves to the 
province ; that the colonists might import every 
species of merchandise from England, and that 
they should confine their exports to England 
alone. The king was restrained from imposing 
any tax or custom on the inhabitants, their lands 
or goods, unless by the consent of the proprie- 
tary then chief governor, or by the assembly, 
or by Act of Parliament in England. 

In case twenty of the inhabitants should de- 
sire of the Bishop of London to send a preacher 
to reside in the province, he was to be permitted 
to perform his functions without molestation. 
And, lastly, if any difference should arise con- 
cerning the meaning of the charter, it was to be 
construed in a manner most favourable to the 
proprietary. 

Such is a summary of the charter granted by 
Charles II. to William Penn. The friendship 
and good offices of the Duke of York furthered 
his views, that nobleman causing his desire that 
Penn should succeed to be communicated to the 
privy council. A great deal of wisdom was ex- 
hibited by all the parties to the business, in the 
careful preparation of a document which should 



48 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

save future disputes. The proprietary, however, 
failed to avail himself of its full advantages, by 
disregarding the clause which released him from 
the necessity of requiring annual quit rents. He 
was empowered by the charter to receive the full 
value, or such an increased price as would have 
made this reserve unnecessary. Had he done ' 
so, a fruitful source of disputes would have been 
avoided. In giving to the Parliament the right 
to tax the colonists, another cause of trouble was 
left. Probably from neither of these circum- 
stances was difficulty apprehended. In regard 
to taxation, Penn leaves us to infer that he was 
pleased to obtain payment of his claim upon any 
terms, and would not therefore be too exacting. 
He writes in April, 1681, a month after the 
granting of his charter: — ''I have been these 
thirteen years the servant of truth and Friends, 
and for my testimony sake lost much, not only 
by the greatness and preferments of this world, 
but sixteen thousand pounds of my estate, that, 
had I not been that I am, I had long ago ob- 
tained. But I murmur not ; the Lord is good to 
me, and the interest of his truth wdth his people 
may move them to repay it. For many are 
drawn forth to be concerned with me, and per- 
haps this way of satisfaction has more of the 
hand of God in it than a downright payment." 

It was not merely, or principally the recovery 
of his debt that induced Penn to obtain the char- 



1681.] penn's motives. 49 

ter of Pennsylvania;. In the same letter wliich 
ve have quoted above, he says: "I had an 
opening of joy as to these parts in the year 
1661, at Oxford, twenty years since ; and as my 
understanding and inclination have been much 
directed to observe and reprove mischiefs in go- 
vernment, so it is now put into my power to 
settle one. For the matters of liberty and 
privilege I propose that which is extraordinary, 
and to leave myself and successors no power of 
doing mischief, that the will of one man may not 
hinder the good of a whole country." His friend, 
Algernon Sidney, assisted him in digesting his 
plans, and the political equality which could not 
exist in England was founded in Pennsylvania. 
He designed that an ''example might be set up 
for the nations," judging that room might be 
found in the new world, if not in the old, "for 
such an holy experiment." "The restoration 
and enjoyment of those natural and civil rights 
and privileges of which men by their folly and 
wickedness are often deprived," was the great 
end he had in view. He wished to establish a 
refuge for the brethren of his own faith, and 
others who wished to escape persecution, or to 
secure immunities from which the customs of 
older countries debarred them. Though he did 
not live to see the result of his experiment, the 
inflence and example of Pennsylvania, and the 
success of his "experiment" does honour to the 



50 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

sagacity of his views ; and for the impetus he 
gave to civil liberty and religious freedom, the 
world owes a large debt to William Penn. 

On the 2d of April, the royal proclamation 
was issued, defining the limits of the province as 
laid down in the charter, and requiring the in- 
habitants within these bounds to yield all due 
obedience to the proprietary. This document 
was immediately sent out to the province by 
William Markham, whom Penn commissioned as 
his deputy-governor. The commission of Mark- 
ham authorized him to settle boundaries, erect 
courts, appoint sheriffs, and conduct the formali- 
ties necessary to proclaim Penn's authority, and 
take possession of the province in his name. To 
the settlers already within his limits, Penn ad- 
dressed the following letter : — 

"My Friends, — I wish you all happiness, 
here and hereafter. These are to let you know 
that it hath pleased God, in his providence, to 
cast you within my lot and care. It is a busi- 
ness that, though I never undertook before, yet 
God hath given me an understanding of my duty, 
and an honest mind to do it rightly. I hope you 
will not be troubled at your change and the 
king's choice, for you are now fixed at the mercy 
of no governor who comes to make his fortune 
great; you shall be governed by laws of your 
own making, and live a free, and if you will, a 
sober and industrious people. I shall not usurp 



1681.] LANDS OFFERED FOR SALE. 51 

the right of any, or oppress his person. God 
has furnished me Avith a better resolution, and 
has given me his grace to keep it. In short, 
whatever sober and free men can reasonably de- 
sire, for the security and improvement of their 
oval happiness, I shall heartily comply Avith ; and 
in five months resolve, if it please God, to see 
you. In the mean time pray submit to the com- 
mands of my deputy, as far as they are con- 
sistent with the law, and pay him those dues 
that formerly you paid to the Governor of New 
York, for my use and benefit ; and so I wish God 
to direct you in the way of righteousness, and 
therein prosper you and your children after 
you." _ 

Having despatched his deputy to take pos- 
session, William Penn next published such a 
description of the country as he could command, 
from his previous acquaintance with New Jersey, 
and the reports of those who had visited Ame- 
rica. He "forebore pains and allurements," and 
warned those disposed to settle of the necessary 
inconveniences which first settlers must en- 
counter. He likewise advised all to secure the 
permission if they could not obtain ''the good 
liking" of their near relatives. <'I shall per- 
suade none," he said. " 'Tis a good country ; with 
a good conscience it will do well." The terms 
of sale were forty shillings the hundred acres, 
and one shilling quit rent per annum. To those 



52 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

who wished to rent, the terms were one penny 
per acre, not exceeding two hundred acres. 
Those who carried servants or Labourers were 
allowed fifty acres for each, on the same terms ; 
and servants, having fulfilled their contract, were 
allowed to take up land at a half-penny per acre. 
This was done ''to encourage poor servants to go 
and be laborious." A great number of pur- 
chasers immediately presented themselves, and 
among them certain gentlemen who formed them- 
selves into a company under the style and title 
of "The Free Society of Traders in Pennsyl- 
vania." This society purchased at once twenty 
thousand acres of land, and issued proposals or 
articles of trade. 

The next step taken, was the establishment of 
"certain conditions or concessions" between 
Penn and those who had purchased of him. This 
agreement comprised twenty articles. The first 
ten provided for the survey of a city plot upon 
some proper site, with the apportionment of the 
city lots to country purchasers ; the laying out 
of roads, and regulation of the country allot- 
ments ; the assurance to purchasers of the full 
property in rivers, watercourses and mines ; and 
the encouragement of the search for precious 
metals. The remaining ten articles regulated 
the trade and intercourse with the aborigines, 
requiring open sales to guard against frauds, and 
subjecting those who wronged the Indians to the 



1681.] COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED. 53 

same penalties as they would incur by deceiving 
a fellow-planter. All differences between planters 
and Indians were directed to be settled by juries 
composed of six planters and six natives. The 
Indians were to be allowed the same privileges 
as the planters in the improvement of their 
grounds. The English laws relative to manners 
and morals, weights and measures, were to be in 
force until altered. An acre of woodland was 
to be reserved for every five acres cleared, and 
oak and mulberry especially to be preserved for 
shipping and silk. A registry was directed to 
be kept of all vessels, owners, freights and pas- 
sengers arriving in the province ; public notice 
was required to be given by all persons leaving 
the colony, otherwise the master of the vessel in 
which they took passage was made liable for 
their debts. 

Such was the substance of the concessions. 
Two ships sailed with emigrants in the autumn 
of 1681 ; the John and Sarah, Captain Smith, 
from London, and the Bristol Factor, Captain 
Drew, from Bristol. In one of these vessels 
came three commissioners, Mr. Crispon, John 
Bezar, and Nathaniel Allen, who were deputed 
by William Penn to lay out a town, and make 
other arrangements for a settlement, and to treat 
with the Indians. In regard to the town, the 
commissioners were instructed to choose a place 
where it is most navigable, high, dry, and healthy; 



54 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

where ships could ride, and, if possible, load and 
unload at the quay-side without boating or light- 
erage. ''Let every house be placed, if the owner 
pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the 
breadth-way of it ; so that there may be ground 
on each side for gardens, or orchards, or fields, 
that it may be a great country town which will 
never be burned, and always wholesome." In 
the treatment of the natives, the commissioners 
were instructed; — "Be tender of offending the 
Indians, and hearken by honest spies, if you 
can hear that any body inveigles them not to 
sell, or to stand off, and raise the value upon 
you. You cannot want those that will inform 
you ; but to soften them to me and the people, 
let them know that you are come to sit down 
lovingly among them. Let my letter, and con- 
ditions with my purchasers about just dealing 
with them, be read in their tongue, that they 
may see we have their good in our eye, equal 
with our own interest ; and after reading my 
letter and the said conditions, then present their 
king with what I send them, and make a friend- 
ship and league with them, according to those 
conditions, which carefully observe, and get them 
to comply with. Be grave ; they love not to be 
smiled upon." The letter referred to above was 
as follows : — 

" My Friends : — There is one great God and 
Power that hath made the world and all things 



1681.] PENN TO THE INDIANS. 65 

therein, to whom you and I and all people owe 
their being and well-being, and to whom you and 
I must one day give an account for all that we 
have done in the world. 

"This great God has written his law in our 
hearts, by which we are taught and commanded 
to love, and to help, and to do good to one an- 
other. Now, this great God hath been pleased 
to make me concerned in your part of the world; 
and the king of the country where I live hath 
given me a great province therein ; but I desire 
to enjoy it with your love and consent, that we 
may always live together as neighbours and 
friends; else what would the great God do to 
us, who hath made us (not to devour and destroy 
one another, but) to live soberly and kindly to- 
gether in the world ? Now, I would have you 
well observe, that I am very sensible of the un- 
kindness and injustice which have been too much 
exercised toward you by the people of these parts 
of the world, who have sought themselves to 
make great advantages by you, rather than to 
be examples of justice and goodness unto you. 
This I hear hath been a matter of trouble unto 
you, and caused great grudging and animosities, 
sometimes to the shedding of blood, which hath 
made the great God angry. But I am not such 
a man, as is well known in my own country. I 
have great love and regard toward you, and de- 
sire to win and gain your love and friendship by 



56 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

a kind, just, and peaceable life ; and the people 
I send you are of the same mind, and shall in all 
things behave themselves accordinglj ; and if in 
any thing any shall offend you or your people, 
you shall have a full and speedy satisfaction for 
the same, by an equal number of just men on 
both sides, that by no means you may have just 
occasion of being offended against them. 

«' I shall shortly come to see you myself, at 
which time we may more largely and freely con- 
fer and discourse of these matters. In the mean 
time I have sent my commissioners to treat with 
you about land and a firm league of peace. Let 
me desire you to be kind to them, and to the 
people, and receive the tokens and presents 
which I have sent you, as a testimony of my 
good-will to you, and of ray resolution to live 
justly, peaceably, and friendly with you. 
" I am your loving friend, 

"William Penn." 

Having thus prepared the way, William Penn 
prepared himself to go over to "his country,'* 
during the year following. Meanwhile he re- 
fused what he acknowledges was " a great tempta- 
tion." He was offered six thousand pounds for 
six shares, the purchasers to have a monopoly 
of the Indian trade, and to pay annually two and 
a half per cent, of their profits as acknowledg- 
ment or rent. This was just ten times as much 



1681.] SOCIETY OF FREE TRADERS. 57 

as he received from other settlers. "But," says 
Penn, '<as the Lord gave it me over all and great 
opj30sition, and that I never had my mind so ex- 
ercised to the Lord about any outward substance, 
I would not abuse his love, nor act unworthy of 
his Providence, and defile what came unto me 
clean." 

The Society of Free Traders, to whom Penn 
sold, and of which he was also a member, held 
no monopoly. In the articles of settlement, the 
managers say, "It is a very unusual society, for 
it is an absolute free one and in a free country ; 
a society without oppression, wherein all may be 
concerned that will, and yet have the same liberty 
of private traffic as though there were no society 
at all ; so that this society is calculated to pro- 
mote the public good and to encourage the pri- 
vate." The Philadelphia city property which 
they held was an entire street from river to river, 
embracing nearly all the ground between Spruce 
and Pine streets. The original intention of their 
business operations was comprehensive, including 
agricultural settlements, manufactories, the lum- 
ber trade, and whale fishery. They had a tan- 
yard, a saw-mill, a glass-house, and other works. 
William Penn released their quit rents, but the 
enterprise does not appear to have been success- 
ful. In their constitution is introduced the first 
provision for the emancipation of negro servants. 



58 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1681. 

It provides that ^< black servants shall be free at 
fourteen years end, on giving the society two- 
thirds of what they can produce on land allotted 
to them by the society, with stock and tools ; if 
they agree not to this, to remain servants till 
they do." Trade with the Indians for peltry 
was another purpose of the society; and they 
made overtures of trade to many sachems, ex- 
tending their views even to Canada. They also 
contemplated assistance to Indians settling in 
towns, «' by giving them advice and instruction 
in handicraft." Among the prominent members 
settled in the country were Nicholas Moore and 
James Claypoole. Most of their city property 
remained unoccupied, and in common, until the 
breaking up of the society, and the passing of 
the property into other hands. 

"Society Hill," as the elevated land in their 
allotment was called, was a parade-ground, and 
had on its summit a flag-staff. Here Whitefield 
preached in the open air, and other clergymen, 
following his example, kept up continuous ser- 
vices. Now, not a vestige of the hill remains, 
and a dense population has obliterated the last 
trace of the city possessions of the '' Society of 
Free Traders." Like other adventurers, they 
were very much disappointed in their expecta- 
tions of trade with the aborigines. The <' mono- 
poly speculators," with these facts transpiring 



1682.] penn's preface. 59 

before them, must have felt quite reconciled to 
William Penn's refusal to treat with them. We 
have anticipated our dates to say the least of this 
enterprise, and now return to our continuous 
narrative. 



CHAPTER III. 

Preface to Penn's Frame of Government — Consultations about 
the Frame — Antagonistic influences — Deed of release from 
the Duke of York — The territories — Penn's embarkation — 
His fellow-passengers — Death of his mother — Farewell — 
Letter to Stephen Crisp — The passage — Sickness on board 
— Penn's arrival at New Castle — At Upland, now Chester — 
Reception — Preliminaries of government — Landing at Phi- 
ladelphia — Intercourse with the Indians — Visit to New York 
— Treaty at Shackamaxon — Indian respect for Penn — Tra- 
dition of his speech — Presumed terms of the treaty — Penns- 
bury. 

In the spring of 1682, William Penn pub- 
lished a plan, or "Frame of Government," for 
his colony. This plan required subsequent 
changes and modifications. But in the preface 
he laid down certain principles which are un- 
changeable. This paper we present entire, as 
one of those documents from the fathers of this 
republic, which deserve remembrance. Happy 
would that state be, which should be guided by 
its principles. 



60 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1682. 

"When the great and wise God had made 
the world, of all his creatures it pleased him to 
choose man as his deputy to rule it ; and to fit 
him for so great a charge and trust, he did not 
only qualify him with skill and power, but with 
integrity to use them justly. This native good- 
ness was equally his honour and his happiness, 
and while he stood here, all went well; there 
was no need of coercive or compulsive means ; 
the principle of divine love and truth in his 
bosom was the guide and keeper of his inno- 
cency. But lust prevailing against duty, made 
a lamentable breach upon it; and the law that 
had before no power over him, took place upon 
him and his disobedient posterity, that such as 
would not live conformably to the holy law 
within, should fall under the correction of the 
just law without, in a judicial administration. 

"This the apostle teaches in divers of his 
epistles. <The law,' says he, 'was added, be- 
cause of transgression.' In another place, « know- 
ing that the law was not made for the righteous 
man, but for the disobedient and the ungodly, 
for sinners, for unholy and profane, for mur- 
derers, * * * and others.' But this is not 
all; he opens and carries the matter of govern- 
ment a little further: 'Let every soul be subject 
to the higher powers, for there is no power, but 
of God. The powers that be are ordained of 
God; whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, 



1682.] penn's pkeface. 61 

resisteth the ordinance of God; for rulers are 
not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt 
thou not be afraid of the power? Do that which 
is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. 
— He is the minister of God to thee for good. — 
Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only 
for wrath, but conscience' sake.' 

"This settles the divine right of government 
beyond exception, and that for two ends : first, 
to terrify evil-doers ; secondly, to cherish those 
that do well ; which gives government a life be- 
yond corruption, and makes it as durable in the 
world as good men shall be. So that govern- 
ment seems to me a part of religion itself, a 
thing sacred in its institution and end; for if 
it does not directly remove the cause, it crushes 
the effects of evil, and is, as such, though a 
lower, yet an emanation of the same divine 
power that is both author and object of pure 
religion ; the difference lying here, that the one 
is more free and mental, the other more corpo- 
ral and compulsive in its operation; but that is 
only to evil-doers, government, itself being 
otherwise as capable of kindness, goodness, and 
charity as a more private society. They weakly 
err, who think there is no other use of govern- 
ment than correction, which is the coarsest part 
of it. Daily experience tells us that the care 
and regulation of many other affairs, more soft, 
and daily necessary, make up the greatest part 

6 



62 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1682, 

of government, and which must have followed 
the peopling of the world, had Adam never 
fallen, and will continue among men on earth 
under the highest attainments they may arrive 
at, by the coming of the blessed second Adam, 
the Lord from heaven. Thus much of govern- 
ment in general, as to its use and end. 

"For particular frames and modes it becomes 
me to say little, and, comparatively, I will say 
nothing. My reasons are, first, that the age is 
too nice and difficult for it, there being nothing 
the wits of men are more divided and busy upon. 
'Tis true, they seem to agree in the end, to wit, 
happiness, but in the means they differ, as to 
divine, so to this human felicity; and the cause 
is much the same, not always want of light and 
knowledge, but want of using them rightly. 
Men side with their passions against their rea- 
sons; and their sinister interests have so strong 
a bias upon their minds, that they lean to them 
against the good of the things they know. 

" Secondly, I do not find a model in the world 
that time, place, and some singular emergencies 
have not essentially altered; nor is it easy to 
frame a civil government that shall serve all 
places alike. 

" Thirdly, I know what is said by the several . 
admirers of monarchy, aristocracy, and demo- 
cracy, which are the rule of one, of a few, and 
of many, and are the three common ideas of 



1682.] penn's preface. 63 

government "when men discourse on that subject. 
But I choose to solve the controversy with this 
small distinction, and it belongs to all three: 
any government is free to the people under it, 
whatever be the frame, where the laws rule, and 
the people are a party to those laws ; and more 
than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion. 

"But, lastly, when all is said, there is hardly 
one frame of government in the world so ill-de- 
signed by its first founders, that in good hands 
would not do well enough ; and history tells us, 
that the best, in ill hands, can do nothing that 
is great and good : witness the Jewish and Bo- 
man states. Governments, like clocks, go from 
the motion men give them ; and as governments 
are made and moved by men, so by them they 
are ruined too. Wherefore governments rather 
depend upon men, than men upon governments. 
Let men be good, and then government cannot 
be bad. If it be ill, they will cure it. But if men 
be bad, let the government be ever so good, they 
will endeavour to warp and spoil it to their 
turn. 

"I know some say, 'Let us have good laws, 
and no matter for the men that execute them.' 
But let them consider, that though good laws do 
well, good men do better; for good laws may 
want good men, and be abolished or evaded by 
ill men; but good men will never want good 
laws, nor suffer ill ones. 'Tis true, good laws 



64 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1682. 

have some awe upon ill ministers, but that is 
•where those have not the power to escape or 
abolish them, and where the people are generally 
wise and good; but a loose and depraved people 
(which is the question) love laws and an admin- 
istration like themselves. That, therefore, which 
makes a good constitution must keep it, namely, 
men of wisdom and virtue; qualities that, because 
they descend not with human inheritances, must 
be carefully propagated by a virtuous education 
of youth ; for which after ages will owe more to 
the care and prudence of founders and their suc- 
cessive magistracy, than to their parents, for 
their private patrimonies. 

<' These considerations of the weight of go- 
vernment, and the nice and various opinions 
about it, made it uneasy to me to think of pub- 
lishing the ensuing frame and conditional 
laws, foreseeing both the censures they will 
meet ;with from men of different humours and 
engagements, and the occasion they may give of 
discourse beyond my design. 

^'But, next to the power of necessity, which 
is a solicitor that will take no denial, this in- 
duced me to a compliance, that we have, with 
reference to God and good conscience to men, 
to the best of our skill, contrived and composed 
the frame and laws of this government, to the 
great end of all government, viz., to support 
power in reverence with the people, and to 



3682.] penn's preface. 65 

secure the people from the abuse of power, that 
they may be free by their just obedience, and 
the magistrates honourable for their just admin- 
istration ; for liberty without obedience is con- 
fusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery. 

"To carry this evenness is partly owing to 
the constitution, and partly to the magistracy ; 
where either of these fall, government will be 
subject to convulsions; but where both are want- 
ing, it must be totally subverted; then where 
both meet, the government is like to endure, 
which I humbly pray and hope God will please 
to make the lot of this of Pennsylvania. Amen." 

This preface bears indubitable marks of being 
the sole composition of William Penn. But in 
the Frame of Government he consulted those who 
had adventured w^ith him; and in some particu- 
lars his wishes were overruled, by those who 
made the adoption of their views a condition, 
without which they could not take part with 
him. Algernon Sidney was in particular con- 
sulted ; and the plan of government, in its main 
particulars, appears to have been the joint pro- 
duction of Penn and Sidney. The feudal rela- 
tion in w^hich Penn stood was difficult to recon- 
cile with the democratic ideas which Sidney 
held, and to which William Penn was inclined. 
The preface which we have given, indicates the 
<' discourse with a considerable argument," which 

the founder says that he had with Sidney; and 

6* 



66 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

which he had, no doubt, with others. The essen- 
tial democratic features of Penn's plan remain 
without change. The original frame or con- 
stitution underwent the first of its modifications 
at the second meeting of the council and as- 
sembly of the colony, at Philadelphia, in 1683. 
To avoid repetition, we postpone our notice of 
the frame until we arrive at the date of the 
Provincial Assembly, by which it was revised. 
A code of laws was prepared in England, and as 
this was reviewed and enlarged and enacted by 
the first assembly of the province, it will be 
given in its order. 

That every thing might be done which should 
remove the possibility of clashing rights and 
sovereignties, William Penn next obtained a 
deed of release from the Duke of York, and his 
heirs, of all claim to sovereignty over the tract 
embraced in the limits of Pennsylvania. He 
also procured the fee simple in the land now 
composing the State of Delaware, paying there- 
for to the Duke of York one-half of all the 
revenues derived from it. This tract is, in the 
early history of Pennsylvania, known under the 
name of "The Territories." 

Thus having closed all the business relative 
to his colony which could be done in England, 
Penn embarked at Deal on board the "ship 
Welcome, of three hundred tons burden, Robert 
Greenaway commander." In this little vessel, 



1683.] EMBARKATION OF PENN. 67 

for small she seems compared with those that 
now convey passengers, Penn had more than a 
hundred fellow-passengers, adventurers to his 
new colony. They were most of the members 
of the Society of Friends, and Penn's old neigh- 
bours in Sussex, where he had a mansion. It 
was a most formidable undertaking in those 
days to cross the Atlantic, and William Penn 
seems to have been deeply impressed with it, 
and anxious to close up all his affairs, and per- 
form all his duties, as if he were setting his 
house in order. We do not think that he under- 
took the voyage with any great alacrity. He 
felt a vocation, to use his own language, to em- 
ploy his influence and improve his position at 
court for the relief of his suffering brethren of 
the same faith. Almost on the eve of his de- 
parture he exerted himself in this charitable and 
most worthy cause, procuring, the discharge from 
arrest of several members of his sect. 

His mother died in the spring of this year, 
and William Penn was deeply moved and af- 
fected. We read in his beautiful letter of fare- 
well to his wife and children the wisdom of a 
man made wise by chastening, and the affection 
of a heart softened by afiliction. As a promi- 
nent and conscientious member of the society, 
he could not leave England without a farewell 
message, and this he prepared under the title 
of <^An Epistle containing a Salutation to all 



68 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

Faithful Friends, a Reproof to the Unfaithful, 
and a Visitation to the Inquiring in the Land 
of my Nativity." He wrote many letters to 
individuals, and from one of these we make an 
extract, as exhibiting the conflict in his mind 
between the calls of duty at home and in his 
colony. The letter was written to Stephen 
Crisp, like the writer, an esteemed preacher in 
his society. 

"The Lord will bless that ground! I have 
also a letter from thee which comforted me; for 
many are my trials, yet not more than my sup- 
plies from my Heavenly Father, whose glory I 
seek, and the renown of his blessed name. And 
truly, Stephen, there is work enough, and here is 
room to work in. Surely Gfod will come in for 
a share in this planting work, and that heaven 
shall leaven the lump in time. I do not believe 
the Lord's providence had run this way toward 
me, but that he has an heavenly end and service 
in it ; so with him I leave all, and myself and 
thou, and his dear people and blessed name in 
earth." 

The vessel sailed about the first of September, 
and made, in regard to time, a prosperous pas- 
sage, being less than two months. On the 24th 
the entrance of the Delaware was reached, and 
on the 27th the Welcome arrived opposite New 
Castle. Here he produced the deeds from the 
Duke of York, and was formally invested with 



1683.] penn's first visit. 69 

the possession of the town and country, by the 
"delivery of turf and twig, and soil of the River 
Delaware." The small-pox had reduced the 
number of the passengers one-third, and the 
proprietor had doubly endeared himself to the 
passengers by his attention both to the physical 
comforts and the spiritual wants of the sick. 
His <'good conversation," says Richard Town- 
send, one of the passengers, "was very advan- 
tageous to all the company, and we had many 
good meetings on board." From the same testi- 
mony we learn that the fear of disease did not 
abate the kindness of the inhabitants. "The 
chief inhabitants were Indians and some Swedes, 
who received us in a friendly manner; and 
though there was a great number of us, the good 
hand of Providence was seen in a particular 
manner, in that provisions were found for us by 
the Swedes and Indians at reasonable rates, as 
well as brought from divers other parts that were 
inhabited before." 

After addressing the people, renewing the 
commissions of the magistrates, and accepting 
pledges of fidelity and obedience, Penn pro- 
ceeded to Upland, noAV, and from the date of his 
arrival, called Chester. It was so named by 
Penn in compliment to his friend and fellow- 
passenger Pearson, who came from the city of 
that name in England. From this place he 
addressed a summons to the magistrates and 



70 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

people of the Territories, to meet him at New 
Castle on the 2d of November. The "court" or 
audience was held accordingly, and Penn ad- 
dressed them upon the objects for which he had 
summoned them*, viz., to confirm their land 
titles, provide room for new settlers, and esta- 
blish temporarily the laws of New York, until 
an assembly could be summoned to enact a new 
code. 

Having thus arranged the preliminaries of his 
government over the Territories, Penn next pro- 
ceeded to his province proper. It is related 
that he went up the Delaware in an open boat 
or barge, and reached the site of his future city 
about the 8th of November, as noted in the 
minutes of the Friends' meeting, held on that 
day at Fainan's Mansion, Shackamaxon, now 
Kensington. Dock Creek, now marked only by 
the line of Dock street, a crooked phenomenon 
among Philadelphia right angles, was then a 
beautiful rural stream; and the emigrants who 
had preceded Penn had commenced to build on 
the north side of this creek, in the angle formed 
by its connection with the Delaware. Here 
stood the "Blue Anchor Tavern" on the corner 
of Front street and the creek margin, and at the 
landing opposite this house Penn disembarked. 
Among those who welcomed the Founder were 
the Swedes and Indians ; and Penn, who had 
brought with him a theoretic liking for these sons 



1683.] TREATY OF SHACKAMAXON. VI 

of the forest, and a determination to test what 
kindness could do in civilizing them, took an 
early opportunity to cultivate their acquamtance. 
He walked with them, sat down on the ground 
at their side, and partook of their primitive re- 
past of roasted acorns and hominy. The de- 
lighted Indians, at a loss for words with one 
who could not understand them, expressed their 
pleasure by feats of agility, and William Penn, 
not to be outdone by his new friends, sprang 
up, and out-leaped them all ! 

After the transaction of such business as op- 
portunity afforded, and the circumstances re- 
quired, Penn visited the province of New York, 
visiting the Jersey Friends, with whom he had 
been in business relations, and seeking out also 
the people of his faith in Long Island, and at 
other places. In November he returned, and 
during the latter part of this month was held the 
famous meeting with the Indians, at the treaty 
tree at Shackamaxon, now Kensington. This 
tree stood until 1810, when it was blown down, 
and a small monument now marks its former 
site. Penn had instructed his commissioners 
who preceded him to this country, to make a 
treaty or league with the Indians. It appears 
from the circumstances that this meeting was 
held for the ratification of the work commenced 
by those commissioners. No written record of 
the transaction remains, and there is no deed or 



72 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. - [1683. 

grant of land bearing date from this meeting. 
It was not, therefore, for the purchase of land, 
but for the interchange of friendly greetings 
and assurances that William Penn met the In- 
dians at Shackamaxon. It was the proper com- 
mencement of his intercourse with his new neigh- 
bours, and its effects remain upon them to this 
day. The traditions of the aborigines have 
canonized the great "Onas," as they called him, 
tra,nslating the word pen into their language; 
and the dress and manners of a "Quaker" are 
assurances to their confidence. The venerable 
John Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary, 
remarks upon the aversion of the Indians to 
treaties made anywhere except in the open air. 
''William Penn," the Indians told Heckewelder, 
" ' when he treated with them adopted the ancient 
mode of their ancestors, and convened them 
under a grove of shady trees, where the little 
birds on the boughs were warbling their sweet 
notes.' In commemoration of these conferences, 
which are always to the Indians a subject of 
pleasing remembrance, they frequently assem- 
bled together in the woods, in some shady spot, 
as^ nearly as possible similar to those where they 
used to meet their brother Miguon, (Penn,) and 
there lay all his words or speeches, with those of 
his descendants, on a blanket, or a clean piece 
of bark, and with great satisfaction go over the 
whole. This practice, which I have repeatedly 



1683.]» TREATY OF SHACKAMAXON. 73 

witnessed, continued till the year 1780, when 
the disturbances which then took place put an 
end to it, probably for ever." The name Mi- 
guon has the same signification as Onas. 

The Indians assembled at Shackamaxon in 
great numbers, painted and armed. The handful 
of Friends who met them were without any 
weapon whatever; but Onas, or Penn, was dis- 
tinguished from his suite by a sash of blue silk 
network. Various articles of merchandise, in- 
tended as presents, were borne before the Euro- 
peans. The Indian chief who presided was 
Tanunend, whose name seems to belong alike to 
the legends of New York and Pennsylvania.. 
Advancing before his warriors, he placed upon. 
his head a chaplet adorned w^ith a small horn, 
the emblem of kingly power, and of religious 
and inviolable peace. At this symbol the In- 
dians laid aside their arms, and seating them- 
selves in the form of a half-moon, awaited the 
conference. Tanunend signified through an in- 
terpreter their readiness to hear, and William 
Penn addressed them in a speech of which tradi- 
tion has preserved the substance. 

The Great Spirit, he said, who made him and 
them, and who knew the innermost thoughts 
of man, knew that he and his friends had a 
hearty desire to live in peace and friendship 
with them, and to serve them to the utmost of 
their power. It was not their custom to use 

7 



74 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. #[1683. 

hostile wefipons against their fellow-creatures, 
for which reason they had come unarmed. Their 
object was not to do injury, but to do good. 
They were then met on the broad pathway of 
good faith and good-will, so that no advantage 
was to be taken on either side, but all was to be 
openness, brotherhood, and love. After these 
and other words, Penn opened a parchment 
which he held in his hand, and conveved to the 
Indians, article by article, the terms upon which 
he placed the intercourse between them, as al- 
ready given in his instructions to the commis- 
sioners, and made the basis of their conferences 
with the Indians for the purchase of land. He 
then laid the parchment on the ground, observ- 
ing that the ground should be common to both 
people. Having distributed presents among the 
cliiefs, he proceeded to say that he would not 
call them children or brothers only; for often 
parents were apt to whip their children too 
severely, and brothers sometimes would differ. 
Neither would he compare the friendship be- 
tween them to a chain, for the rain might some- 
times rust it, or a tree might fall and break it; 
but he would consider them as the same flesh 
and blood with the Christians, and the same as 
if one man's body were to be divided into two 
parts. He then took up the parchment, and 
presented it to the sachem who wore the horn 
in the chaplet, and desired him and the other 



1683.]* TREATY OF SHACK AMAXON. 75 

sachems to preserve it carefully for three gene- 
rations, that their children might know what 
had passed between them, just as if he had re- 
mained himself with them to repeat it. 

The Indians, as is their decorous custom, lis- 
tened in perfect silence. The chiefs, we may 
suppose, as Penn describes their general custom, 
deliberated for some moments, and then one of 
them, speaking in the king's name, and taking 
Penn by the hand, pledged the Indians to live 
in love with William Penn as long as the sun 
and moon endure. No tradition of the Indian 
speech on this occasion is preserved. We may 
remark, that this tree had been the place be- 
tween the Indians and Penn's commissioners 
when they settled the purchases which were 
made before Penn's arrival; and as Shacka- 
maxon signified, in the Indian language, "the 
place of kings," probably it was an old council 
ground. The principal tribes represented were 
three, the Lenni Lenape, the Mingoes, and the 
Shawnees. Tftie Lenni Lenape, usually called 
the Delaware Indians by the Europeans, appear 
to have been the fathers and possessors of the 
soil. The Mingoes, called by the French the 
Iroquois, were a confederacy known among the 
English as the Five Nations, and afterward the 
Six Nations. The Shawnees were a warlike 
tribe, exiled from the south, and tolerated or 
protected by the Delawares. It should be ob- 



76 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 



served that these Delawares, or Lenni Lenape, 
with whom Penn had most dealings, were among 
the least warlike, and most placable of the abo- 
rigines. 

Although, as we have said, no copy of the 
treaty has been preserved, and the original, in 
the hands of the Indians, has never been read, 
so far as appears, by any white man who has 
recorded the fact, yet in the early minutes of 
the Provincial Council, the stipulations of the 
instrument are frequently referred to. They 
were quoted by the Indians at many subsequent 
conferences with the authorities of the province. 
And in May, 1728, we find Governor Gordon in 
an Indian council, recapitulating the nine prin- 
cipal heads of the treaty: — 

i'That all William Penn's people, or Chris- 
tians, and all the Indians, should be brethren, as 
the children of one father, joined together as 
with one heart, one head, and one body. That 
all paths should be open, and free to both Chris- 
tians and Indians. That the doors of the Chris- 
tians' houses sliould be open to the Indians, and 
the houses of the Indians open to the Christians, 
and that they should make each other welcome 
as their friends. That the Christians should 
not believe any false rumours or reports of the 
Indians, nor the Indians believe any such 
rumours or reports of the Christians, but should 
first come, as brethren, to inquire of each other ; 



1683.] TREATY OF SHACKAMAXON. 77 

and that both Christians and Indians, ^vhen they 

hear any such false reports of their brethren, 

should bury them as in a bottomless pit. That 

if the Christians heard any ill news that may be 

to the hurt of the Indians, or the Indians hear 

any such ill news that may be to the injury of 

the Christians, they should acquaint each other 

with it speedily, as true friends and brethren. 

That the Indians should do no manner of harm 

to the Christians nor their creatures, nor the 

Christians do any hurt to any Indians, but treat 

each other as their brethren. But as there are 

wicked people in all nations, if either Indians 

or Christians should do any harm to each other, 

complaint should be made of it by the persons 

suffering, that right may be done; and when 

satisfaction is made, the injury or wrong should 

be forgot, and buried as in a bottomless pit. 

That the Indians should in all things assist 

the Christians, and the Christians assist the 

Indians against all wicked people that would 

disturb them. And, lastly, that both Christians 

and Indians should acquaint their children with 

this league and firm chain of friendship made 

between them; and that it should always be 

made stronger and stronger, and be kept bright 

and clean, without rust or spot, between our 

children and children's children, while the 

creeks and rivers run, and while the sun, moon, 

and stars endure." 



78 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

It would be pleasant to know whether the 
above "heads" are the Indian understanding of 
the treaty, or Governor Gordon's presentation 
in simple language, or whether they are in the 
same style of expression as the document itself. 
If the latter be the case, then William Penn was 
very happy in so drawing up a treaty that its 
terms could be easily comprehended. 

From the treaty tree William Penn proceeded 
to his new mansion, at Pennsbury, nearly oppo- 
site Burlington. It was then in progress of 
erection, having been commenced by Colonel 
Markham before Penn's arrival. The mansion 
had sixty feet front, by forty in depth, the lawn 
and garden sloped down to the river side, and 
the offices were built in a line with the main 
building. All that now remains is the brewhouse, 
converted into a dwelling. In the mansion was 
a spacious hall for councils and Indian con- 
ferences; and at Pennsbury, when he was in 
this country, Penn fully carried out the hospi- 
table treatment which he desired should be 
shown to the aborigines. .The site was bought 
of <'an old Indian king." There are allusions to 
several Indian conferences held at Pennsbury, 
usually closing with a "cantico," or song, and 
dance round the council fire out of doors. Penn 
was a frequent visitor to the Indians, and de- 
lighted to watch their sports and feats of agility, 
and to be present at their dances. At a wed- 



1684.] ETIQUETTE OF THE GOVERNOK. 79 

ding near Pennsbury, perhaps at the manor- 
house itself, Penn was present with several In- 
dians. The bride, who died in 1774, aged one 
hundred years, and whose descendants still live 
in Bucks county, used to describe Penn as "of 
rather short stature, but the handsomest, best- 
looking, lively gentleman she had ever seen." 

While Penn was thus affable and kind to his 
dependants, and courteous to all whom he met, 
and upon occasions of relaxation could lay aside 
the governor, he was not at all unmindful of the 
influence of proper forms and the decorum of 
official intercourse. His barge was a stately 
conveyance for those days; and his coach and 
fine blooded horses were in keeping with the 
style of his residence. When the council was 
in session, an official guarded the door; and 
when he went to open the assembly, or to hold 
the High Court of the Provincial Council, he 
was preceded by the members in procession, and 
attended by the sheriff and his deputies with 
their insignia of office. 



80 HISTORY OF. PENNSYLVANIA. [1682. 



CHAPTER IV 

First Provincial Legislature — Act of settlement— Act of union 
— Naturalization — Code of laws — Preamble and first sec- 
tions — Religious toleration — Abolishment of primogeniture 
• — Privileges of citizens — Humanity of the code — Satisfaction 
of the people — The Maryland boundary — ^Points in dis- 
pute — Protracted controversy — Mason and Dixon's line — 
Boundary troubles — Meeting of the council and assembly 
at Philadelphia — Adjustment of the Frame of Government — 
Leading particulars — William Penn's opinion of his powers 
— Laws passed and laws not passed — Treason — Style of acts 
— Only witchcraft trial — Trial of a counterfeiter — Why was 
Anthony Weston whipped 1 

Agreeably to writs issued by William Penn 
for the meeting of the council and assembly of 
the provinces and territories thereunto belong- 
ing, a session was held at Chester, commencing 
on the 4th of December, 1682. The " Frame of 
Government" prepared in England, required that 
there should be chosen seventy-two persons to 
act as a Provincial Council, that the House of As- 
sembly should consist of not more than two hun- 
dred persons ; but upon the first meeting it was 
found that only the seventy-two were chosen, 
one-half of whom were from the province, and 
©ne-half from the territories, and that no sepa- 
rate provision was made for assembly. In this 
dilemma, three instead of twelve were taken 



1682.] FIRST COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY. 81 

from each county to form tlie council, and an 
act of settlement was passed making the in- 
formality legal. The preamble of the act set 
forth as the reason for it, "the fewness of the 
inhabitants, their inability in estate, and unskil- 
fulness in matters of government." A council 
who could at this day deal thus honestly with 
the character of their constituents would be con- 
sidered curiously bold. The same act made six 
the number of representatives to be annually 
chosen for each county. Other alterations were 
made, which it is not necessary here to note. 
An act for the union of the province and territo- 
ries was also passed. As half the council and 
assembly were delegates from the territories, 
the union was thus recognised from the day of 
the election, and the act should have been con- 
firmatory rather than declaratory. But in those 
primitive times technicalities were not insisted 
on. Another act naturalized the foreis-ners 
already settled in the province and territories, 
but it was decided that no persons should there- 
after be naturalized except by special laws. 

The legislature of the province remained in 
session but three days, in which, their work 
being nearly all prepared to their hand, they 
accomplished a great deal. The most important 
business of the session was the "Great Law," a 
code of laws which passed on the third day. 
The preamble to this code, and the first section, 



82 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1682. 

has been much and justly admired. They are 
as follows: — 

i' Whereas the glory of God Almighty and 
the good of mankind is the reason and end of 
all government ; and therefore government itself 
is a venerable ordinance of God ; and forasmuch 
as it is principally desired and intended by the 
proprietary and governor, and freemen of the 
Province of Pennsylvania and the territories 
thereunto belonging, to make and establish such 
laws as shall best preserve true Christian and 
civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, 
licentious and unjust practices, whereby God 
may have his due, Csesar his due, and the peo- 
ple their due, from tyranny and oppression on 
the one side, and insolence and licentiousness 
on the other ; so that the best and firmest founda- 
tion may be laid for the present and future 
happiness of both the governor and the people 
of the province and territories aforesaid, and 
their posterity : Be it enacted by William Penn, 
proprietary and governor, by and with the ad- 
vice and consent of the deputies and freemen of 
this province and the counties aforesaid, in 
General Assembly met, and by the authoi;ity of 
the same, that these following chapters and 
paragraphs be the laws of Pennsylvania and 
territories thereof: — 

<« Almighty God being only Lord of conscience, 
Father of lights and spirits, and the author as 



1682.] PREAMBLE TO LAWS. 83 

well as object of all divine knowledge, faith, and 
worship; who only can enlighten the mind, and 
persuade the conscience of people, in due reve- 
rence to his sovereignty over the souls of man- 
kind : It is enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
that no person now, or at any time hereafter 
living in this province, who shall confess and 
acknowledge one Almighty God to be the 
Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world, and 
that professeth him or herself obliged in con- 
science to live peaceably and justly under the 
civil government, shall in any wise be molested 
or prejudiced for his or her conscientious per- 
suasion or practice; nor shall he or she at any 
time be compelled to frequent or maintain any 
religious worship, place or ministry whatever, 
contrary to his or her mind, but shall freely and 
fully enjoy his or her Christian liberty in that 
respect, without any interruption or reflection ; 
and if any person shall abuse or deride any other 
for his or her different persuasion and practice 
in matters of religion, such shall be looked upon 
as a disturber of the peace and punished ac- 
cordingly. 

"But to the end that looseness, irreligion and 
atheism may not creep in under pretence of con- 
science in this province : Be it further enacted 
by the authority aforesaid, that according to the 
good example of the primitive Christians, and 
for the ease of the creation, every first-day of 



84 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1682. 

the week, called the Lord's day, people shall 
abstain from their ordinary toil and labour, that 
whether masters, children, or servants, they may 
the better dispose themselves to read the scrip- 
tm^es of truth at home, or to frequent such meet- 
ings of religious worship abroad as may best suit 
their respective persuasions." 

Though thus guarding against persecution for 
opinion's sake, the code required, as a necessary 
qualification for office, the profession of the Chris- 
tian faith. All persons who paid " scot and lofe 
to government" could elect and be elected. Per- 
sonal liberty was strictly guarded. No arrest 
was permitted in civil cases, unless the defend- 
ant was about to leave the province; and in 
criminal cases the accused were bailable, unless 
the oifence were capital, and the presumption of 
guilt violent. The law of primogeniture was 
modified, the real estates of persons dying with- 
out will being divided among the children, the 
oldest son having a double share. Where there 
were no children, the real estate of a man de- 
ceased insolvent could be sold to pay his debts ; 
but if he left issue, one-half only was liable to 
execution, and that only for debts contracted 
prior to the purchase of the estates. Marriage 
was declared a civil contract. Murder was the 
only crime punishable by death. Prisons were 
declared to be workhouses for felons, thieves and 
vagrants. 



1G82.] SATISFACTION OF THE PEOPLE. 85 

Such were the peculiar features of the "body 
of hxws," which distinguished it from the old 
forms of succession, primogeniture, and san- 
guinary inflictions for crime. There were many 
laws against blasphemy and other evil practices. 
Stage plays, pledging of healths, masks, revels 
and the like were interdicted, the penalty being 
fine, imprisonment, and the stocks; but many 
offences were left to the discretion of the magis- 
trate to punish. The spirit of these laws still 
controls the jurisprudence of Pennsylvania, but 
of the original laws all are repealed. The parts 
necessary to be retained are provided for by 
later enactments. The employment of convicts 
at labour, and the effort at the reclamation of 
the offender, have given their model character to 
the prisons of Pennsylvania. The inhabitants 
of the province and the territories were very 
much pleased with the result of the first session 
of the len-islature and the demeanour of their 
governor ; and the Swedes deputed one of their 
number, Lacy Cock, to assure the proprietary 
that "they would love, serve, and obey him with 
all they had," and they declared that the day 
of his coming among them was "the best they 
ever saw." 

After the adjournment of the legislature, Wil- 
liam Penn proceeded to Maryland to endeavour 
to settle the boundary of the two provinces. 
Unsuccessful efforts had been already made by 

8 



86 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1682. 

Colonel Markham, and Penn had no better suc- 
cess. Lord Baltimore received him with great 
personal courtesy ; but raised claims which Penn 
regarded as entirely inadmissible, shutting him 
off from the ports on the Delaware, which he re- 
garded essential to the prosperity of his province. 
Baltimore's claim under his charter was "unto 
that part of Delaware Bay on the north which 
lies under the fortieth degree.'' Under this Balti- 
more claimed up to the end of the fortieth, or 
beginning of the forty-first. Penn's charter in- 
cluded the country from " the beginning of the 
fortieth degree^'' and under this he claimed from 
the end of the thirty-ninth. There was also a 
restricting clause in the Maryland charter, re- 
stricting the grantee to lands not previously set- 
tled by European colonists, as the territories had 
been. Penn had clearly the best of the argu- 
gument, but the dispute was not settled during 
his lifetime. In 1732 a joint commission was 
agreed to by the respective proprietaries, to run 
the line which at present marks the boundary 
between Delaware and Virginia, and the south- 
ern boundary of Pennsylvania. But the terms 
of the convention were not complied with until 
the proprietaries of Pennsylvania procured a de- 
cree in chancery, in 1750. Even after this, the 
running of the line was delayed until 1762, when 
Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two expert 
mathematicians, were employed, who surveyed 



1683.] BOUNDARY DISPUTE. 87 

and run the lines, and, we may add, unconsciously 
procured for themselves immortality : for " Ma- 
son and Dixon's Line" has passed, through later 
circumstances, into a phrase of continual re- 
ference. 

While the question remained open, the bound- 
ary was a subject of continual annoyance and 
diflficulty. Lord Baltimore offered lands within 
the disputed tract for sale at a much less price 
than those which were indisputably within his 
patent, and he annoyed and dispossessed others 
who refused to acknowledge his title, or to pay 
him quit-rent. Where the principal is exacting 
subordinates never fail to catch the spirit, and 
many disagreeable rencounters and difficulties 
occurred. Penn's peaceful policy prevented any 
serious difficulty ; but if he could forbear to 
quarrel, he could also firmly refuse to yield. 
We state, in anticipation, the result of the dis- 
pute, to the progress of which we may find need 
once or twice to refer. 

Having, with the consent of the purchasers 
under him, divided the province of Pennsylvania, 
so far as settled, into three counties, Philadel- 
phia, Chester, and Bucks, and the territories into 
New Castle, Kent, and Sussex; and having also 
appointed sheriffs for those counties, Penn issued 
writs for the election of members of the council 
and assembly, to meet at Philadelphia, on the 
10th of March, 1683. The most important 



88 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

business of the session was the adjustment of 
the "Frame of Government," which proved in 
the working too cumbrous and complicated. By 
this frame the government was vested in the 
proprietary and governor, and the freemen of 
the province, represented in a council and gene- 
ral assembly. The council consisted of eighteen, 
with a provision to be increased as the popula- 
tion increased, not to exceed seventy-two. One- 
third of the members were to be chosen every 
year, three years to be the term of service. 
Thus the council was a perpetual body. The 
governor and council had the power of origi- 
nating and proposing to the assembly all such 
bills as they should consider needful, and such 
bills were to be posted up twenty days before the 
meeting of the assembly, that the people might 
consult upon them with their representatives. 
The governor and council had power to dismiss 
the assembly. The judiciary appointments were 
reserved to Penn during his life, and after his 
death the council were to nominate two to each 
vacancy, of whom the governor was to designate 
one. The council were joined with the governor 
in his executive functions, had charge of the lo- 
cation of cities and public buildings, highways 
and roads, public schools, the treasury, &c. ; and 
in the beginning of the government appears to 
have assumed the trial of cases, either by appeal 
or original complaint, and to have exercised a 



1683.] ALTERATIONS IN i' FRAME." 89 

supervisory and summary power over the inferior 
courts. One-third of the council residing with 
the governor, formed his advisory cabinet. 

The assembly was intended only to act upon 
such bills as the governor and council matured, 
published by proclamation, and proposed to them 
for assent. But the assembly at this session 
procured the right to originate legislative mea- 
sures also. Also they passed a resolution which 
the governor approved, giving them that privilege. 
The practical operation of this was to make the 
assembly the legislative branch of th^ govern- 
ment ; whereas, by the original frame, the house 
had merely a negative upon government pro- 
positions. 

Aliens were enabled to devise real estate. 
Election by ballot was established. Provision 
was made for the appointment of commissioners 
and guardians during the minority of the go- 
vernor or proprietary, in case none should be 
appointed by the will of the deceased. Among 
the most important changes from the original 
frame, was in the omission of the power which the 
governor had to cast a treble vote in the council. 
Penn thought, and not, we must admit, without 
reason, that some act of his inexperienced legis- 
lators might cost him the forfeiture of his char- 
ter, and he endeavoured to procure from the as- 
sembly an act giving him security of indemnity 
in case of such forfeiture. But this measure 

8* 



90 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1684. 

was not carried. William Penn, as afterward 
appeared, regarded the privileges which he grant- 
ed by his frame as free gifts on his part, not 
inherent rights of the people, having in practice 
the high ideas of prerogative which were held 
by the Stuarts, though in theory a republican. 
In his public acts these contrary motives were 
continually exhibiting themselves, sometimes one 
being prominent and sometimes the other. In 
his letter to a friend relative to the original 
scheme of government, he declared that he had 
not left it in the power of one man to defeat the 
will of the people ; thus intimating that he con- 
ceived that power to have been transferred to 
him by the king's patent. The audacity of the 
assembly in their demand for the privilege of 
originating laws was remarked upon by a courtly 
member. He said it was " too presumptuous, and 
derogatory from the governor's privileges and 
royalties." 

The assembly adjourned after a session of 
twenty-two days. The next session was held at 
Newcastle, in May, 1684. At these two sessions 
the whole civil and criminal code was revised, 
and several laws were proposed which did not 
pass. Among these we note one making it com- 
pulsory upon young men to marry, and another 
directing that only two kinds of cloth should be 
worn in the colony, one for summer and another 
for winter. Good sense prevailed against these 



1684.] ACTS OF THE ASSEMBLY. 91 

enactments. There would seem also to have 
been, even at this early day, some rebellious 
spirits in the colony, who did not hesitate to ex- 
press their opinions of proposed laws in phrases 
more energetic than seemly or polite. These, 
upon report being made to the governor and 
council, were duly reprimanded. The details of 
county judicatures were settled and arranged. 
The Indians, in relation to the crime of drunken- 
ness, became amenable to the colonial laws, upon 
their own agreement, and the law forbidding the 
sale of spirituous liquors to them was repealed ; 
but a law was passed making void any contract 
when either party was '^ in drink" at the time 
of its being contracted. Provision was made for 
the appointment of three '' peacemakers" at 
every county court, of the nature of common 
arbitrators, to hear and adjust differences be- 
tween individuals. This principle is now pre- 
served in the law authorizing the choice of ar- 
bitrators by parties who have matters in contro- 
versy. An impost was voted upon certain im- 
ports and exports, which the governor declined 
to accept for the present, but reserved for future 
advantage. But he did accept the sum of two 
thousand pounds, to be raised by duties on im- 
ported spirits. An act was passed " for the pre- 
servation of the governor's person," Avhich de- 
clared it treason to attempt his life, or assail 
his power. 



92 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1684. 

Among the records of the first provincial 
council, William Penn, proprietary and governor, 
presiding, we find the only witchcraft case re- 
corded, which the annals of Pennsylvania pre- 
sent. One Margaret Matson was indicted as a 
witch, and the principal evidence against her was 
as follows, as appears by the Provincial Records : 

<' Annatey Coolen, attested, saith her husband 
tooke the Heart of a Calfe that Dyed, as they 
thought, by Witchcraft, and Boyled it, where- 
upon the Prisoner at the Barr came in and asked 
them what they were doing ; they said boyling 
of flesh ; she said they had better they had 
Boyled the Bones, with several other unseemly 
expressions." 

Margaret, poor soul, denied every thing, and 
the jury returned the most sensible verdict which 
witchcraft trials present : " Guilty of having the 
common fame of being a witch, but not guilty in 
manner and form as she stands indicted." Mar- 
garet was required to find bail to keep the peace, 
and her husband becoming her surety with an- 
other, she was discharged. The records preserve 
several trials of masters and crews of emigrant 
ships, in relation to short fare, ill treatment, and 
consumption of the passengers' beer by the 
thirsty seamen, blows provoked by the spilling 
of slops, for which in reality old Neptune only 
was accountable. 

The trial and sentence of a counterfeiter is 



1684.] ANTHONY WESTON. 93 

also recorded, in which the culprit, who seems to 
have been a man of substance, was sentenced to 
redeem his base issues in good money, to pay a 
fine of forty pounds, and find security for his 
good behaviour. One is a little at a loss to 
know under what law this sentence was inflicted. 
There was at that time no colonial law against 
counterfeiting, and no law in the British code 
would authorize such a sentence. The conclu- 
sion is inevitable that the worthy governor and 
his council met many exigencies by virtue of 
their mixed legislative and executive functions, 
supplying for the occasion what the ^' Great 
Code" did not furnish. We judge this certainly 
to have been the course with one Anthony Weston. 
" The Proposalls of Anto Weston with the rest 
of the Persons names thereunto subscribed were 
read ; And the Governor proposes which way to 
punish him, and they thought the best way was 
to have him Whypt. — Antho. Weston being Ex- 
amined, saith that they mett at Tho. Hootons, 
and there chose him to draw up Proposalls to 
the Gov. and Prov. Councill, wch Proposalls were 
mended by Tho. Winn, who was reproved for 
doeing of the same. The Gov. proposeth what 
to doe with Anto. Weston: as many as would 
have him whypt, say yee. Past in the Affirma- 
tive." So Anthony was whipped three times in 
the market-place, on three successive days, at 
meridian, each time receiving ten lashes for his 



94 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1684. 

great presumption and contempt. But why poor 
Anthony was whipped, or what was the tenor of 
his ''Proposals," appeareth not oi record. We 
suspect that there was more fun than treason in 
them ; and less fun in the consequence than in 
the deed. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Penn's return to England — Appointment of provincial judges 
and other officers — Number and character of the inhabitants 
of the colony — Review of the Dutch and Swedish occupa- 
tion — Henry Hudson — Captain Cornelius Jacob May — Cap- 
tain De Vrees — The Swedish settlers — Wiccaco — Captain 
Sven — The old Swedes church — The Dutch rule — Swedish 
intercourse with the natives — Minisink — The British acqui- 
sition in 1664 — Grant to the Duke of York of the former 
Dutch possessions — Extract of a letter from William Penn 
■ — Boundary dispute with Lord Baltimore — Indian treaties 
— Selection of Coaquannock as the site for a town — Phila- 
delphia founded — DweUings on the river bank — Annals of 
emigrants — Birth of John Key — Anecdotes of the early set- 
tlers — Experiences of Elizabeth Hard. 

The domestic affairs and duties of William Penn, 
the desire to relieve the sufferings of the Society 
of Friends in England, the dispute with Lord 
Baltimore about the boundaries of Maryland, 
and the natural activity of his own mind, induced 
the proprietary, in the month of August, 1684, 
to embark for England. He had arranged his 
government for a two years' absence, commis- 



1684.] INHABITANTS. 95 

sioning a bench of five provincial judges for 
that term. The bench consisted of Nicholas 
Moore, William Welch, William Wood, Robert 
Turner, and John Eckley. Thomas Lloyd, 
James Claypoole, and Robert Turner were em- 
powered to sign land patents and grant war- 
rants. The Provincial Council, Thomas Lloyd 
being president, were empowered to act in his 
stead in the government of the province. Co- 
lonel Markham was appointed secretary of the 
province, and Thomas Holmes, surveyor-general. 
The city of Philadelphia at this time contained 
about three hundred houses, and a population of 
nearly twenty-five hundred. The whole popula- 
tion of the province and territories was about 
seven thousand, three thousand of whom were of 
Swedish or Dutch extraction, and the rest were 
Penn's colonists. The number of townships 
surveyed and taken up was twenty-two. Every- 
thing was in a prosperous and promising condi- 
tion ; the state of the Maryland boundary only 
excepted. In one respect even this has proved 
an advantage, particularly to antiquarians. The 
examination into the history of the early Swedish 
and Dutch claims which William Penn instituted 
to strengthen his claim, and to establish an 
occupation prior to the assumption of Lord 
Baltimore, has handed down to us a full account 
of the Swedish and Dutch occupation of the 
banks of the Delaware. 



96 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1623. 

In the year 1609 Captain Henry Hudson, 
being in the employment of a Dutch company, 
touched at the mouth of what is called Delaware 
Bay. Finding shoals, and suspecting danger, 
he returned, and a few days after entered the 
Bay of New York, and discovered its noble river, 
which he called the North River, in contradis- 
tinction to the Delaware, which he named the 
South River. The name of Delaware was given 
to the river and bay afterward, in honour of 
Lord DelaAvare, one of the early governors of 
Virginia. A trading-post was erected on Man- 
hattan Island, now the site of New York city, 
and in 1623 the West India Company of the 
United Netherlands took formal possession of 
the country discovered by Hudson, including the 
Delaware or South River, and named the whole 
indefinitely understood tract New Netherlands. 
Captain Cornelius Jacob May was despatched 
to the South, or Delaware, River to colonize and 
make further discoveries ; and he gave the name 
to Cape May which it now bears. The opposite 
cape received Captain May's baptismal name, 
Cornelius. It was afterward called Cape Henlo- 
pen, a name given originally to a cape further 
south, on Fenwick's Island, now called False 
Cape. Penn endeavoured to affix to it the name 
of his royal patron, James, but the name of 
Henlopen is that which custom has fastened 
upon it. 



1637.] SWEDISH settlehs. 97 

In 1631 Captain David Peterson de Vries, as 
the agent of a wealthy Dutch association, at- 
tempted a settlement near the present site of 
Lewistown. It was nnsuccessful. The Indians 
dispersed or murdered his colonists, and the 
enterprise was abandoned. But the English in 
Virginia recognised the Dutch occupancy in 
official documents; and the land forming once 
the ''Territories of Pennsylvania," and now the 
State of Delaware, was considered a Dutch pos- 
session, forming, with Pennsylvania, a part or 
appendage of the New Netherlands, as New 
York was called by its first inhabitants. 

In 1637 the Swedes commenced a settlement 
on the Delaware. Their purchase from the In- 
dians extended from Cape Ilenlopen, up the 
Delaware, to the Falls, opposite Trenton, about 
thirty miles above the present site of Philadel- 
phia. This tract was called New Sweden. The 
settlements of the Swedes extended up to the 
present site of Philadelphia, and even beyond it. 
The land on which Philadelphia is built was pur- 
chased in part of Sven Schute, or Captain Sven, 
(anglicised, Swan,) by William Penn, who gave 
him other tracts for it; and also extinguished 
other Swedish titles. This Swedish family re- 
sided with others at Wiccaco, now within the 
limits of Southwark. There the Swedish settlers 
built a log church on the site of the present 



98 HISTOEY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

Swedes church, which was erected in 1700. The 
name of the Sven's Ssener, or sons of Sven, 
afterward softened into Swanson, is preserved in 
the name of a street in Southwark. 

In ] 655, there having been various skirmishes 
and clashings of jurisdiction, most of which be- 
long to the history of the Territories, now the 
state of Delaware, Governor Peter Stuyvesant, 
of New Netherlands, came up the Delaware with 
seven ships, and six or seven hundred men, took 
fort after fort, and established the sovereignty 
of the New Netherlands over New Sweden. The 
principal officials were compelled to leave the 
colony, but private citizens were encouraged to 
remain, and had their land titles confirmed to 
them. Thus, though under Dutch government, 
the colony still remained Swedish, and was' in- 
creased by further immigration of the same peo- 
ple. They built churches and maintained the 
Lutheran worship, were friendly with the Indians, 
and had a great and happy influence over them. 
Altogether their presence was a most propitious 
introduction to Penn's enterprise. Many Friends 
from Jersey settled among them, finding them 
congenial and hospitable. There were at the 
time of Penn's arrival seven places of worship. 
The Dutch had one at New Castle; the Swedes, 
three, one at Christiana, one at Tinicum, and 
one at Wiccaco; and the Friends three places 
of meeting, one at Chester, one at Shackamaxon 



1683.] DUTCH AND SWEDES. 99 

(now Kensington,) and one near the Falls of the 
Delaware. , 

We may remark, that there was a settlement 
at Minisink, on the Delaware, above the Blue 
Mountains, long before Penn obtained his char- 
ter. These settlers were Hollanders, and their 
settlement was probably the oldest of any extent 
made in Pennsylvania ; and the road connecting 
their tract with Esopus, New York, was the first 
good road of any length made in the United 
States. During the Dutch occupancy, there 
were extensive mines worked, of which the traces 
still remain. The settlements of the Dutch at 
Esopus were commenced as early as 1623, per- 
haps 1616. 

The Dutch and Swedes, the former as rulers, 
the latter as people, continued in occupation of 
the Delaware till 1664, when the province of 
New Netherlands was seized by the British 
government, and by Charles II. presented to 
the Duke of York. The duke granted a patent 
for New Jersey, which had formed a part of 
New Netherlands, to Lord Berkeley and Sir 
George Carteret. In 1672 the Dutch recover- 
ed possession of the New Netherlands, but re- 
stored the province to England by the treaty 
of 1674. The Duke of York, to make his title 
unquestionable, obtained a new patent, and 
under this his jurisdiction in the Territories, as 
well as the tract afterward called Pennsylvania, 



100 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

was reasserted and defended. Penn, having ob- 
tained the grant of Pennsylvania from the 
crown, with the Duke of York's concurrence, 
obtained the Territories directly from the duke. 

This short resumd of the colonial history, 
prior to Penn's arrival in this country, may 
serve to put his claim in a true light before the 
reader, and to explain the force and meaning 
of the following expressions in a letter to his 
steward, at Pennsbury, written immediately 
upon his reaching England. "Phil. Lemain 
has most carelessly left behind the York papers 
that Thomas Lloyd brought, and should have 
come as the ground and every strength of my 
coming, so I am now here with my fingers in my 
mouth. He would not have done me a worse 
injury, nor balked a greater service, if he had 
had the bribe of XIOOO to do it. Wherefore let 
him be quickened to send them by the first ship 
that comes of Maryland or Virginia. Let Tho- 
mas Lloyd step to York, and get fresh affidavits 
of the three men, that can swear the Dutch pos- 
session of river and bay before Baltimore's 
patent, in the governor's presence, and under 
the seal of the province." 

Penn had, however, a friend in the Duke of 
York upon whom he could rely; the more 
especially, as to admit Baltimore's claims was 
to invalidate his own patent, and to make illegal 
the resistance to the claims of Baltimore which 



1683.] INDIAN TREATIES. 101 

had been made by the New York authorities be- 
fore Penn had any interest in the subject. So, 
though Penn was advised of Lord Baltimore's 
departure for England in March, he delayed to 
follow him until he had completed the organiza- 
tion of his colony, but contented himself with 
writing to the Duke of York, and begging a stay 
of proceedings till he should arrive. During his 
short residence in the colony, he accomplished 
so much that it was much to be regretted that 
any cause induced or compelled him to leave. 
He had made treaties with nineteen nations or 
tribes and subtribes of Indians, and so amicably 
and fairly dealt with them, that the first difficulty 
which occurred with the Indians, many years 
after, resulted from a departure from his policy. 
And the administration of his government, which 
proceeded so quietly during his stay, was soon 
in confusion after his departure. 

Perhaps some key to the difficulties which fol- 
lowed Penn's departure may be found in the 
fact, that he reserved too much, or assumed too 
much to himself, as general director and autho- 
rity of last appeal — just as some too careful 
parents leave their families no discretion. We 
find, for instance, that just before he left he was 
called upon to settle a dispute relative to the 
river bank. The owners of the lots adjoining 
claimed the right to build vaults or stores on the 

bank opposite to their property. Penn decided 

9* 



102 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

that they had no more right to do this than 
those who held lots farther back. The original 
intention was to reserve the river bank as an 
elevated public promenade, for the common use 
of all, and to promote the health of the city. 
Growing business defeated this purpose, which 
was indeed incompatible witlf the wants of a 
commercial community; and the river bank, 
reserved for the public, became, at last, and 
when Penn most needed it, a source of revenue 
to him by the sale of the lots. 

Some facts and anecdotes relative to the pri- 
mitive appearance and early settlement of the 
capital city will not be uninteresting here. Phila- 
delphia is fortunate in possessing one of the most 
indefatigable of annalists and antiquarians in 
John F. Watson, Esq., of whose labours we avail 
ourselves. Anecdotes and personal traits and 
adventures give a life and interest to history 
which mere public detail cannot supply. Chester, 
tradition says, was first looked upon as the site 
of the chief city, but its location did not answer 
the views of William Penn. The first settlers 
chiefly rested there until Penn came over. The 
commissioners whom Penn despatched to look 
out for the site of a town were directed to sound 
the creeks, especially at Chester. The great fea- 
tures which Penn desired to preserve, were high 
dry banks, suitable for the purposes of com- 
merce, and houses so disposed that the place 



1683.] CITY SITE CHOSEN. 103 

should be a great country town, wliich would 
never be burned, and always wholesome. As 
early as 1677, attention was called to the con- 
venience of the site of Philadelphia for a town. 
The first vessel that visited Burlington, in veer- 
ing round when opposite the seat of the future 
city, struck the trees with her yard-arms. The 
Indian name of the place was Quequenakee, or 
Coaquannock, a name signifying a grove of tall 
pines ; for the high banks were lined with mag- 
nificent forest trees. Among the vessels which 
preceded Penn, many proceeded up to Burling- 
ton, all -the passengers finding accommodation 
impossible at Chester, and many, no doubt, hav- 
ing friends and connections among the Friends 
already settled in New Jersey. One of the pas- 
sengers relates, as the tradition is preserved in 
Watson, that the vessel in which she took pas- 
sage, made fast, at nightfall, at Coaquannock, 
mooring to the trees. The captain in the morn- 
ing took a stroll on shore, and finding his way 
to the River Schuylkill, was in raptures with the 
place as a fine location for a town. This was 
reported, while the commissioners were still in 
doubt, having investigated the claims of many 
sites, and it led to their final choice of Phila- 
delphia. A better could not possibly have been 
made. It was determined upon, subject, no 
doubt, to Penn's revisal, before his arrival, and 
buildings had already commenced, as we have 



104 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

already seen when he landed at his new city. 
Some progress must therefore have been made 
in the laying out the streets, and arranging the 
plan of the town, according to the instructions 
which Penn had given to his commissioners. 

The reserve of the river bank answered a use- 
ful temporary purpose. The settlers who were 
obliged to wait for their allotments of land, con- 
trived such impromptu residences as would serve 
their present need. They made in the bank an 
excavation about three feet in depth, and over 
this excavation constructed a roof of layers of 
limbs, split trees, brush and tAvigs, usually sod- 
ding over the whole. The chimneys were made 
of stones and clay and river grass. Some of 
these dwellings were so well constructed that 
they lasted for many years, serving for the tem- 
porary accommodation of successive arrivals of 
emigrants. Others were occupied by "squat- 
ters," who remained in defiance of decrees of 
council that they should remove, and many of 
these places became tippling-shops, and public 
nuisances. Some of the best families in the 
country were glad in their necessity to make use 
of such accommodations ; for nearly thirty ship 
loads of emigrants arrived at the new country 
within less than two years from Penn's obtaining 
his grant and issuing his proposals. The colo- 
nists, in their native land, had been principally 
persons of competence, farmers, tradesmen and 



1683.] ANNALS OF SETTLERS. 105 

mechanics. Some few brought with them the 
materials for houses, ready to erect ; and many 
of the better buildings were planned in England. 
The carved and elaborated portions of the wood- 
work of Penn's mansion at Pennsbury and his 
house in Philadelphia were brought from Eng- 
land. 

In one of these caves was born John Key, the 
first born in Pennsylvania of English parentage. 
William Penn made the child a present of a city 
lot, to commemorate the event. He was born 
at the foot of Race or Sassafras street, and his 
property was nearly opposite the corner of Race 
and Crown. The first births among the colo- 
nists were, however, on shipboard during the pas- 
sage over, and one of these children was appro- 
priately called "Sea-Mercy." 

Incidents related by contemporaries, and pre- 
served in letters and traditions, will give the 
reader a better idea of early scenes and diffi- 
culties than can be done by any attempt at de- 
scription. We copy such a relation from Watson. 
Mrs. Deborah Morris, Avho died at the com- 
mencement of the present century, distributed 
by will, among her friends, various relics and 
heir-looms which she had preserved. She ac- 
companied these "gifts with their history. The 
following is an extract from her Avill : " The 
large silver old-fashioned salver I give to my 
nephew Thomas Morris, was given to my dear 



106 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1683. 

parents by my mother's aunt, Elizabeth Hard, a 
worthy good woman, (she being the first orphan 
ever left in charge of George Fox's Society of 
Friends in England,) whose sweet innocent de- 
portment used to give me high esteem and regard 
for the ancient people. She came from England 
with William Penn and other Friends. My 
2:randfather and o-randmother had arrived two 
years before, and settled in the Jerseys ; but 
when they heard that Elizabeth Hard designed 
to come to Philadelphia, they removed thither 
before her, and had just got settled in a cave on 
the bank of the river when my dear aunt Hard 
arrived. 

"She esteemed it a divine Providence thus to 
find her sister, whom she had not seen for some 
years, thus ready to receive her in the cave. 
There they dwelt together until they could build. 
I remember, while writing, one passage among 
many others which she related, which I have 
often pleasingly thought of, as it has raised my 
hopes and increased my faith and dependence 
on that Arm which never failed our worthy an- 
cestors. It was with them, supporting through 
all their difiiculties; and many difficulties at- 
tended them in settling a new country. In hopes 
of its being as profitably remembered by my 
cousins as myself, I'll repeat it, to wit : — All 
that came wanted a dwelling, and hastened to 
provide one. As they lovingly helped each other, 



1683.] ANNALS OF SETTLEHS. 107 

the women set themselves to work they had not 
been used to before — for few of our settlers were 
of the laborious class, and help of that sort was 
scarce. My good aunt Hard thought it expe- 
dient to help her husband at one end of the saw, 
and to fetch all such water to make mortar of 
as they then had need to build their chimney. 
At one time, being over-wearied therewith, her 
husband desired her to forbear, saying, ' Thou, 
mv dear, had better think of dinner.' On this, 
poor woman, she walked away, weeping as she 
went, and reflecting on herself for coming here, 
to be exposed to such hardships, and then not 
know where to get a dinner, for their provision 
was all spent except a small quantity of biscuit 
and cheese, of which she had not informed her 
husband ; but thought she would try which of her 
friends had any to spare. Thus she walked in 
toward her tent, (happy time when each one's 
treasure lay safe therein,) but was a little too 
desponding in her mind. For this she felt her- 
self closely reproved, and as if queried with, — 
'didst thou not come for liberty of conscience, — 
hast thou not got it, — also been provided for 
be^^ond thy expectation V Which so humbled 
her, she on her knees begged forgiveness and 
preservation in future, and never repined 
afterward. 

" When she arose, and was going to seek for 
other food than what she had, her cat came into 



108 HISTORY OE Pennsylvania! [1683. 

the tent, and had caught a fine large rabbit, 
■which she thankfully received and dressed as an 
Enc;lish hare. When her husband came in to 
dinner, being informed of the facts, they both 
wept with reverential joy, and ate their meal, 
which was thus seasonably provided for them, 
with singleness of heart. Many such providen- 
tial cases did they partake of: — and thus did our 
worthy ancestors witness the arm of divine love 
extended for their support." 

As a memorial of the hunting feat of puss, a 
device representing a cat seizing and bearing off 
a rabbit was engraved on a silver tureen, still in 
possession of some of the descendants of the 
family. Another co.se is related in which the 
furnishing of food to settlers, was the act of a 
wolf. A young girl, a few miles from the Dela- 
ware, found a deer driven into a creek by a wolf, 
and secured the frightened animal by fastening 
his horns to a tree with a halter, until aid ar- 
rived to secure him, the wolf decamping, alarmed 
in turn at the human captors. Pigeons, ^'with 
shocking tameness," were knocked down for 
food. The Indians furnished game, and were 
kind to the early settlers ; and in several in- 
stances, preserved by tradition, took care of the 
children in isolated cottages, while the parents 
were called away by business. The supply of 
food from sources less precarious than such as 
we have related soon became abundant. Many 



1683.] ANNALS OF SETTLERS. 109 

articles, even to salted meats, were brought to 
the colony by the settlers, and afterward im- 
ported by them from Europe, as appears from 
Penn's memoranda of expenses. The greater 
part of the early settlers were persons who did 
not lack for means ; and when a poorer class 
came as servants, their time being sold to pay 
their passage hither, the labour of such provided 
abundant food. 

We have now noted with as much minuteness 
as our space permits the primitive settlements 
of Pennsylvania. We have space only to ob- 
serve that the emigrants, for the two first years, 
included settlers from England, Ireland and 
Wales, Holland and Germany. The first Ger- 
mans who came over were Friends, some of them 
probably the founder's proselytes ; for they 
came from the Palatinate, and the very vicinity 
which Penn visited with Robert Barclay. They 
founded Germantown. The Welch, who came 
over in large numbers, have perpetuated the 
names of their former residences in many names 
of towns and counties, in the first settled por- 
tions of Pennsylvania. So also did the English 
and Irish. For many interesting traditions, the 
reader must refer to local histories and memo- 
rials, with which Pennsylvania is richly supplied. 

10 



110 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1684. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Aspect of things in England — Penn's difficult position — Death 
of Charles II., and accession of James — Penn's account of 
events — Proclamation of James in Philadelphia — Impeach- 
ment of Nicholas Moore — His refusal to plead — Other colo- 
nial difficulties — Rumours with England — Extracts from 
Penn's correspondence — His influence at court — Monmouth's 
insurrection — Venality and cruelty — Vindication of Penn — ■ 
Threatened colonial difficulties — Dangers to the proprietary 
governments — Penn appoints a board of commissioners — 
Their instructions — Appointment of a lieutenant-governor 
— Stormy administration — Penn's embarrassments — Neglect 
by the colony of the proprietary's wishes — Revolution of 
1688 — Political suspicions against Penn — -Persecuted by his 
enemies — He is compelled to abandon a visit to his colony — 
His forced retirement, and pecuniary losses. 

William Penn arrived in England in October, 
1684, but his proceedings in the business of the 
boundary were delayed, as already stated, by 
the discovery that certain necessary papers were 
left behind. According to his own statement, he 
found matters at court less propitious than at 
any previous time. The court was "sour and 
stern, and resolved to hold the reins of power 
with a stiffer hand than heretofore, especially 
over those that were observed to be church or 
state dissenters; conceiving that the opposition 
wdiich made the government uneasy, came from 
that sort of people, and therefore they should 



1684.] penn's difficult position. Ill 

either bow or break. This made it hard for me, 
a professed dissenter, to turn myself — for that 
party having been my acquaintance, my inclina- 
tion, and my interest too, to shift them I would 
not, to serve them I saw I could not, and to keep 
fair with a displeased and resolved government, 
that had weathered its point upon them, humbled 
and mortified them, and was daily improving all 
advantages against them, was a difiicult task to 
perform." 

In this delicate position William Penn's sa- 
gacity was put to proof; "being one day well 
received at court as proprietor and governor of 
a province of the crown," and the next arrested 
by the underlings of the police as a dissenting 
preacher, and the third day ''smoked [watched 
we presume by spies] and informed of, for meet- 
ing with men of the Whig stamp." He had, in- 
deed, a difficult part to play. The members of 
his religious sect looked to him, as a leader, for 
the exertion of his influence with the king and 
/the duke. The whigs and republicans with whom 
he fraternized were not without their expecta- 
tions of service. His own conscience and in- 
clination looked the same way; and we must 
suppose him more than mortal if his self-love was 
not also uro;ed to shovf that the influence which 
he was reputed to hold was a fact, and not mere 
rumour. Indeed, through all his connection with 
the court in the reigns of Charles and James, we 



112 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1684. 

never find him denying the power he was sup- 
posed to have — but always on the alert to exer- 
cise it, and always, it must be conceded, in the 
cause of humanity. If "he made any profit of his 
interest, it was not from his persecuted clients, 
nor from the victims of political persecution 
whom he defended, but in the mode indicated in 
the following extract from his own declarations : 
"I cast about in mind what way I might be 
helpful to the public, and as little hurtful to my 
own concerns as I could, for I had then a cause 
depending about bounds of land in America, with 
the Lord Baltimore, before the council, that was 
of importance to me." This cause was unsettled 
at Penn's death. There were also other move- 
ments in relation to the colonies, in regard to 
which Penn felt it necessary to be vigilant. The 
inconveniences which his colony suffered by his 
absence led to the underrating of his motives for 
remaining in England; especially by colonial au- 
thorities, and those historians who have followed 
them. That his interests, and those of Penn- 
sylvania, would have been better promoted by a 
residence in his colony is now generally sup- 
posed; but we must remember that it is easier to 
pronounce -an opinion on the past than to decide 
what to do in a present difficulty. 

While debating what course to pursue, Penn 
found exercise for his active temperament and 
philanthropy in pleading the cause of single 



1685.] penn's account. 113 

sufferers for conscience' sake, the <' times being 
too eel" for public appeals or extended move- 
ments. But in February, 1685, a new com- 
plexion was put upon public matters by the death 
of Charles II. King James peaceably succeeded, 
though not without great alarm among English 
Protestants, churchmen and dissenters, on ac- 
count of the new monarch's undisguised ad- 
herence to the Romish church. No better brief 
account of the accession of James and his first 
measures has been written than that found in a 
letter of Penn to his friend Thomas Lloyd. Im- 
mediately upon the death of Charles, and James's 
accession, a "proclamation followed, with the 
king's speech, to maintain the church and state as 
established, to keep property and use clemency. 
Tonnage and poundage, with the excise, are re- 
vived de bene esse, till the Parliament meet. One 
is now choosing. The people of Westminster 
just gone by to choose. It sits the 19th of 
third month next. In Scotland, one next month. 
Severities continue still, but some ease to us 
faintly promised. Be careful that no indecent 
speeches pass against the government, for the 
king going with his queen publicly to mass gives 
occasion. He declared he concealed himself to 
obey his brother, and that now he would be above 
board; which we like the better on many ac- 
counts. I was with him and told him so ; but, 
withal, hoped we should come in for a share. 

10* 



114 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANM. [1685. 

He smiled, and said he desired not that peacea- 
hle people should be disturbed for their religion. 
And till his coronation, the 23d, when he and his 
consort are together to be crowned, no hope of a 
release; and, till the Parliament, no hope of a 
fixed liberty. My business, I would hope, is 
better. The late king, the papists will have, 
died a Roman Catholic ; for he refused (after 
his usual way of evading uneasy things, with 
unpreparedness first, and then weakness,) the 
Church of England's communion. Bishop Ken, 
of Wells, pressing him that it would be to his 
comfort and that of his people to see he died of 
that religion he had made profession of while 
living ; but it would not .do. And once, all but 
the duke. Earl of Bath, and Lord Feversham 
were turned out ; and one Huddlestone, a Romish 
priest, was seen about that time near the cham- 
ber. This is most of our views. The popish 
lords and gentry go to Whitehall to mass daily ; 
and the Tower, or royal chapel, is crammed, by 
vying with the Protestant lords and gentry. 
The late king's children by the Dutchess of 
Portsmouth go thither. 

" Our king stands more upon his terms than 
the other with France; and though he has not 
his brother's abilities, he has great discipline and 
industry. Alas! the world is running over to 
you: and great quantities together is to pu-t the 
Bale of lands out of my own hands, after I had 



1685.] penn's account. 115 

spent what I got by my own in the public service, 
for I am ^£3000 worse in my estate than at first. 
I can say it before the Lord : I have only the 
comfort of having approved myself a faithful 
steward, to my understanding and ability; and 
yet I hope that my children will receive it in the 
love of yours when we are gone. * * * Keep 
up the people's hearts and love. I hope to be 
with them next fall, if the Lord prevent not. I 
long to be with you. No temptations prevail to 
fix me here." 

So wrote Penn at the beginning of his long 
absence; and the earnest desire which he then 
felt to return to America failed after many de- 
lays, and was diminished no doubt by the very 
occurrences in Pennsylvania which rendered the 
need of his presence the greater. Private letters 
like the above, written in confidence, are in- 
teresting as developing character. The <'alas!" 
at the increase of emigration is an honest regret 
at the sales of land in large lots, which gave the 
profits of the transaction to speculators. As 
settlers bought, it Avas in smaller lots of the first 
purchasers, and thus Penn lost what he might 
have received by the enhanced value which in- 
creased emigration gave to eligible lands. He 
might have much increased emigration by the 
issue of new proposals, but friendship for the 
king, and wise caution, forbade his taking ad- 
vantage of the popular fears, by proclaiming the 



116 HISTORY OF PENXSYLVANIA. [1685. 

advantages of an asylum from persecution and 
oppression in the new world. 

King James was duly proclaimed in Pennsyl- 
vania, on the 22d of April, 1685. The style of 
the proclamation may interest our readers : — 
" Pennsilvania : — Wee the President and Pro- 
vinciall Conncill, accompanied with the represen- 
tatives of the Freemen in Assembly, and Divers 
Magistrats, Officers, and other Persons of note, 
doe in Duty and in concurrence with our neigh- 
bouring Provinces, Solemnly publish and Declare 
that James, Duke of York and Albany, by the 
decease of our late Sovereign Charles the Se- 
cond, is now become our LawfuU Liege Lord 
and King, James the Second of England, Scot- 
land, France and Ireland ; and (amongst others 
of his dominions in Amei'ica) of this Province 
of Pennsilvania and its Territories KING ; To 
whom Wee acknowledge faithfull and constant 
obedience, hartily wishing him a happy Reign in 
Jiealth, peace and prosperity. And so God Save 
the King !" 

The first difficulty which occurred in the pro- 
vince of a public nature, grew out of some al- 
leged misconduct of Nicholas Moore, whom Penn 
had appointed chief-justice. Mr. Moore was at 
the same time member of the assembly, and was 
also President of the Free Society of Traders. 
Articles of impeachment were prepared against 
him, charging him with violence, partiality, and 



1685.] IMPEACHMENT OF MOORE. 117 

negligence, as cliief-justice, in a cause in wliich 
the traders were interested. He had incurred 
the anger of the house by three times in one 
day entering his single protest against bills in- 
troduced without the previous publication re- 
quired by the charter. He refused to appear 
and plead to the impeachment before the coun- 
cil, and was thereupon enjoined to cease acting 
in any place of authority or judicature till the 
articles of impeachment were examined. What 
were the charges does not clearly appear, but 
they could not have been of very great weight, 
since Penn, in alluding to them, says, "that 
may be a mighty political vice which is not a 
moral one." Moore also received high evidence 
of Penn's confidence, though he certainly had 
no great personal liking for him, since he speaks 
of him and Patrick Robinson, as " most unquiet 
and cross to Friends." Robinson was clerk of 
the provincial court, and refused to produce be- 
fore the assembly the court records without an 
order from the bench ; and as the bench was not 
obedient enough to order evidence to be produced 
for its own trial, the records were not forthcom- 
ing. The assembly requested the council to de- 
clare the contumacious clerk unqualified to hold 
any ofiSce, but it does not appear that this was 
done. 

The letter of Penn's request, that "no indecent 
speeches pass against the government," was fol- 



118 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1685. 

lowed in the case of one John Curtis, a justice 
of the peace, who, for certain " treasonable and 
dangerous words against the king," was dismiss- 
ed from his office, and required to find surety 
in three hundred pounds to ke^p the peace. 
Charges of extortion were made against several 
officers of government ; the ^' caves" were said to 
be places of gross immorality, and altogether 
the good city of Philadelphia was in a state of 
much disquiet. The echo of the criminations 
and recriminations of the disputants across the 
Atlantic seems to have been much greater than 
the facts warranted. The worthy proprietary's 
uneasiness may be judged of by his correspond- 
ence. In a letter addressed in 1685 to the 
magistrates of the colony, he says : — 

"' There is a cry come over unto these parts 
against the number of drinking houses and loose- 
ness that is committed in the caves. I am press- 
ed in my spirit, being very apt to believe too 
many disorders in that respect, strictly to require 
that speedy and effectual care be taken : — First, 
to reduce the number of ordinaries or drinking 
houses, and that without respect to persons: — 
Such are continued that are most tender of 
God's glory and the reputation of the govern- 
ment ; and that all others presuming to sell, be 
punished according to law: — I desire you to 
purge those caves in Philadelphia ; they are 
worse by license and time : — the three years are 



1685.] COLONIAL DIFFICULTIES. 119 

expired ; — I would have the suspected forthwith 
to get up a housing elsewhere ; and the empty 
caves to accommodate the poor families that 
come over ; though they must not stand long he- 
fore men's doors." 

In reference to the disputes among the officials, 
Penn writes : — " I am sorry at heart for your 
animosities ; cannot more friendly and private 
courses be taken to set matters to right in an 
infant province, whose steps are numbered and 
watched? For the love of God, me, and the 
poor country, be not so governmentish, so noisy 
and open in your dissatisfaction." There is 
often a pith in Penn's language which carries a 
world of meaning. That word " governmentish," 
correct for the nonce, could not be surpassed in 
expressiveness. In regard to the extortions 
charged against some of his colonial officers, 
Penn writes : — " It is an abominable thing to 
have three warrants for one purchase ; 'tis op- 
pression that my soul loathes. Several things 
and sums besides are set down, that are not in 
law nor in my regulations." In another letter 
he declared '' the Province disgraced" by these 
circumstances ; and in reference to the disputes 
of the provincial officers said, ''their conduct 
herein had struck back hundreds, and was 
£10,000 out of his way, and £100,000 out of 
the country." 

The year 1685 was a year of sad confusion and 



120 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1685. 

suffering in England. Penn had taken lodgings 
for himself and family in Kensington, where his 
doors were besieged by hundreds of applicants 
at a time to obtain his influence at court in the 
removal of disabilities or oppressions under which 
they laboured, or for the pardon of friends. His 
own business, meanwhile, was delayed, "thrown 
off," he says, " with other people's ; first by the 
late king's death, then the coronation, next the 
Parliament, now this insurrection, almost over, 
for the Duke of Monmouth is taken." The 
capture of Monmouth was followed by sangui- 
nary severity against his adherents. The duke 
was beheaded, and the rigour with which the 
followers of the Pretender were hunted out and 
executed, leaves a blot upon the history of the 
English judiciary, and has stamped the judge 
before whom the forms of trial took place as 
''the infamous Jefferies." A corrupt court made 
merchandise of the fears of the implicated, and 
large sums were paid for pardon or escape from 
trial, when trial was equivalent to condemnation. 
Between two and three hundred persons were 
executed, and about a thousand ti-ansported. 
"We allude to this subject chiefly to defend the 
fame of Williani Penn, who has been made un- 
justly to'Suffer by his connection with the king. 
The charge has been made against him in a re- 
cent work, that he acted as the agent of the 
court in fleecing the parents of certain school 



1685.] VINDICATION OF PENN. 121 

children in Taunton. The charge against the 
children was, that they met and congratulated 
the Pretender, in procession, at the head of 
which was their teacher. The plunder of these 
unfortunates having been given to the queen's 
maids of honour, it is alleged by Macaulay that 
Penn undertook the collection of it. There is 
no proof to support an allegation so contrary to 
William Penn's character; and there is the fact 
that one George Penne was notoriously employ- 
ed in such vile work, which makes the conclusion 
irresistible that William Penn has suffered, 
though but temporarily, by his connection with 
a wicked tyrant, and the resemblance of his 
name to that of a man of miserable reputation. 
Other charges, such as that Penn was a Papist, 
that he was guilty of proposing simony, &c., are 
equally baseless. Some of these slanders were 
contemporary, others have been invented by the 
willing ingenuity of an unfriendly historian. 
But from all charges involving moral turpitude 
Penn stands fully acquitted. His philanthropy 
is undoubted, and his honesty of purpose and 
integrity are unquestionable. Thus much at 
least duty requires the historian of Pennsylva- 
nia to say of the founder of this great common- 
wealth. 

But the course which Penn did take must be 
admitted to have been injudicious ; though even 
against this is to be pleaded his desire to benefit 



122 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1686. 

liis kind, and the immediate results of his con- 
duct were beneficial to hundreds. The king as- 
sumed the responsibility of suspending the law, 
and Penn stopped not to inquire into the strict 
legality of the proclamation of religious tole- 
rance, and the abolition of tests. If the Ro- 
manist party were benefited, so were the Qua- 
kers, in common with other dissenters ; and 
though Penn was disposed to make the most of 
partial relief, he was not blind to the fact that 
the ultimate disposition of the matter rested 
with the Parliament. " Till the Parliament," 
he says in a letter already quoted in this chapter, 
'' no hope of fixed liberty." That Penn did 
fathom the king's true motive for tolerance, the 
reinstatement of the Roman power, is hardly 
to be doubted ; and it cannot be wondered that 
he had less objection to this, since it necessarily 
opened the door for all dissenters. " It is a 
time," he said in one of his letters, '' fo he 
ivise.'' 

The watching of his infant colony, to which he 
refers in one of his letters, by its enemies abroad, 
had an important significance to William Penn. 
He feared that the disorders there, exaggerated 
as they were, would be made use of to strip him 
of his government. The cumbrous machinery 
of proprietary establishments, with a third party 
between the crown and the distant subjects, was 
beginning to be called in question. In 1686 a 



1688.] COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED. 123 

writ of quo ivarranto was issued against the pro- 
prietaries of New Jersey, a proceeding which 
resulted in their surrender of jurisdiction. The 
New England charters had been superseded. 
Penn was justly alarmed at such omens ; and we 
cannot wonder that he remained at court to 
guard his interests, though at the injury of his 
reputation. 

While he still remained in England he took 
steps, as judicious as he could conceive, to ob- 
tain that peace and efficiency in his government 
which would remove the pretext to deprive him 
of his province. He vested the gubernatorial 
powers, at first left with the council, in five com- 
missioners, whose warrant was read in the coun- 
cil, in the month of February, 1688. Thomas 
Lloyd was at the head of the board. Nicholas 
Moore, the former judge, was originally appoint- 
ed one of the commissioners, but never served, 
his death occurring about this period. In his 
instructions and letters to these commissioners, 
Penn gave them all powers which he considered 
himself to possess, reserving to himself the con- 
firmation of what was done. He directed them 
to enforce a better attention to their public 
duties on the part of the Provincial Council, for 
he says: — "I will no more endure their most 
slothful and dishonourable attendance, but dis- 
solve the Frame without more ado : let them 
look to it if further occasion be given." If the 



124 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1688. 

council was obstinately remiss, the commissioners 
will "take such a council as they thought con- 
venient." They were directed to abrogate all 
laws which had been passed in Penn's absence, 
to dismiss the assembly, "call it again," and 
pass such laws as should seem meet to the new 
legislature and executive. He required them to 
"inspect curiously" the proceedings of the coun- 
cil and legislature, and report to him in what 
way they had broken the charter. It is evi- 
dent from these instructions that Penn feared 
the forfeiture of his charter by the crown, and 
to avoid this "greater inconveniency," directed 
these measures. But it does not appear that 
the commissioners attempted either to supersede 
the regularly elected council, or to annul the 
laws which had been passed previously to their 
appointment. They held office about two years, 
and were then succeeded by John Blackwell. 

Penn, being wearied with the jars of his colo- 
nists, was willing to try a deputy who had not 
mingled in their disputes. Thomas Lloyd wished 
to retire from political life, and in concurrence 
with his advice against a divided executive, 
Penn appointed Blackwell lieutenant-governor. 
The new governor had been an officer under 
Cromwell, but proved to be deficient in the tact 
necessary to manage the colony. He remained 
in office little over a year, and it appears to 
have been a year of continual clashing between 



1689.] penn's embarrassments. 125 



the governor and the assembly and council. He 
attempted many infractions of the privileges of 
the coordinate members of government, and 
seemed to succeed in nothing but making him- 
self universally unpopular. He was recalled in 
1689, and the government devolved again upon 
the council, of which Thomas Lloyd was presi- 
dent. 

William Penn's province had now become 
more than ever a sore vexation to him. His 
quit-rents were in arrears, and he was obliged to 
furnish money for the support of his establish- 
ment at Pennsbury. The provincial government 
neglected the supply which they had promised 
him; he received ''not so much as a beaver 
skin, or pound of tobacco," as a present; and 
he declared himself determined not to defray 
out of liis private fortune his charges in a pub- 
lic office. He requested in vain for copies of 
the laws which had passed the provincial legisla- 
ture, and had certainly great ground of com- 
plaint of those for whom he had expended so 
much. And, on the other hand, there were not 
wanting extenuating considerations in relation 
to the neglect of the colonists. They regarded 
the founder as wealthy, while they felt their 
own poverty, or, in nominal competence, their 
inability to answer demands for mone}-. They 
were harassed by changes and divisions, to 
which they thought Penn's presence would have 



11* 



126 HISTORY OF PENICSYLVAIv^IA. [1691. 

put an end. The tie of affection, and the con- 
sideration of respect for their proprietary, were 
growing weaker every day. 

MeanAvhile, Penn's residence in Europe had 
become unpleasant, and even hazardous. By 
the revolution of 1688, James II. was driven 
from the throne, and Penn became the object of 
suspicion as a friend of the abdicated monarch. 
All the old slanders were revived against him, 
and he w^as accused of plotting the restoration 
of James. He was thrice examined before the 
privy council, and thrice discharged. But when 
a fourth time proceedings were commenced 
against him, early in the year 1691, the circum- 
stances were such as made it the part of pru- 
dence to avoid to answer, and to remain con- 
cealed. He was accused by a perjured wretch 
of complicity in a plot to restore James to the 
throne, and barely escaped arrest while attend- 
ing the funeral of George Fox. Knowing the 
reckless and abandoned character of his accuser, 
he esteemed it wiser to wait in concealment the 
establishment of his innocence, than to confront 
an accuser so vile. What made this occurrence 
doubly unfortunate was, that it took place in the 
midst of William Penn's preparations for a new 
colony. He had issued proposals, and obtained 
a large company of adventurers. The govern- 
ment had promised him a convoy for his pas- 
senger vessels, and he was on the point of sail- 



1691.] KEWS OF REVOLUTION. 127 

ing. All was abandoned, and for three years 
William Penn remained under a sort of informal 
■duress. His accuser was, during that time, de- 
clared infamous, and sentenced to the pillory; 
and with that revelation of the character of the 
accuser, the accusation fell to the ground. 



CHAPTER YII. 

News of the revolution received in Philadelphia — Action of the 
council thereon — Separation of the territories from the pro- 
vince — Two deputy-governors — George Keith — The jurisdic- 
tion of the governor of New York extended over Pennsyl- 
vania — Administration of Governor Fletcher — He appoints 
Colonel Markham his deputy — William Penn reinstated — 
He continues Markham as deputy-governor — Death of Mrs. 
Penn — Of Thomas Lloyd — Markham's administration — New- 
act of settlement — Its democratic features — Charges of piracy 
and illicit trade — Arrival of William Penn in his colony — His 
welcome — Birth of "The American" — Penn meets the legis- 
lature — His activity in his government — New charter of 
privileges — Charter of Philadelphia — Differences about titles 
and quit-rents — Failure to obtain money for colonial defence 
— Rumours of intended changes in the charters — Return of 
Penn to England. 

The first rumour of the abdication of James 
II. appears to have been brought to Philadelphia 
by Zachariah Whitpain, who arrived "about 
middle-night," January 23d, 1689. The said 
Zachariah was on the next day examined before 
the assembled council, relative to rumours which 



128 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1691. 

he reported as current in London on "the 10th 
or 12th of Xbre." His statement was reduced 
to -writing, Zachariah was "deposed to the truth 
thereof," and it was entered on the journal of 
the council. It was not, however, until the first 
of the next November that the form of papers 
issuing in the king's name was changed in con- 
sonance with the new order of things. A decla- 
ration was drawn up, passed, and signed by the 
governor and ten counsellors. In this were 
recited the facts of the action of Parliament, and 
the actual reign of William and Mary ; and al- 
though the provincial authorities had received 
no formal instructions, they made manifest their 
loyalty and obedience by this declaration. All 
officers were directed to govern themselves ac- 
cordingly, and all to abide in their stations, 
"Roman Catholiques only Excepted." 

By the return of Governor Blackwell to Eng- 
land, the government of Pennsylvania devolved 
upon the council, which elected Thomas Lloyd 
president. But the province and the territories 
could not work harmoniously together. The 
territories had long been dissatisfied at being 
overshadowed by the province. Philadelphia in- 
creased at the expense of New Castle, the custom- 
house and commercial business of the province 
and territories having been transferred to the 
new city. The proprietary had left the colonists 
their choice, to be governed by five commis- 



1693.] GEORGE KEITH. 129 

sioners, by the council, or by a deputy-governor, 
as they should prefer. Pennsylvania chose the 
latter; and the delegates from the territories, 
being in a minority, withdrew their attendance. 
Lloyd was chosen by the Pennsylvanians deputy- 
governor, and Colonel Markham, the secretary 
of the province, who sided with the members 
from the territories, was chosen as their gover- 
nor. The proprietary reluctantly acquiesced in 
this decision of the government, and issued his 
commission to both officers. The province and 
the territories, though under different executives, 
acted together in legislation until 1693, when a 
new change, not unexpected to the proprietary, 
came over the province. 

During the joint administration of the deputy- 
governors, the Society of Friends had a difficulty 
which gave them great anxiety. George Keith, 
a member of the society, distinguished for learn- 
ing and talents, was invited to Philadelphia in 
1689, to take charge of a public school esta- 
blished by the Society of Friends. He had been 
a very active preacher in New Jersey, and soon 
abandoned the school to resume his preaching, 
deeming himself in duty required to procure a 
reform among Friends, of whose discipline he 
alleged that "there was too great a slackness 
therein." He was abusive in his language, and 
spared neither printed nor spoken words against 
the members of his society. He denied the 



130 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1693 

right of Friends to issue warrants for the forci- 
ble arrest of criminals ; and astonished the 
young colony with seditious words against dig- 
nitaries. He told the governor (Lloyd) that 
t'he was an impudent man and pitiful go- 
vernor;" complimented another magistrate with 
the title of "impudent rascal;" and altogether 
conducted himself in so troublesome and sedi- 
tious a manner, that he was disowned by the 
Friends, who published a formal testimony 
against him. He appealed to the yearly meet- 
ing in London, by whom the proceedings in 
America were confirmed. He was also subjected 
to suits in the provincial courts, as were also his 
printers. A fine of five pounds was imposed 
upon him, but it does not appear to have been 
ever collected. Keith withdrew from the society, 
and was unwisely admitted to orders in the esta- 
blished church in England, and returned to this 
country as a missionary. He did not long re- 
main here, however, but returned to England. 

The Friends who had folloAved Keith in his 
secession soon returned to the fold; and the 
society recovered from its disturbance. But a 
serious evil was done to Penn by these proceed- 
ings. The rumours of misrule and confusion in 
Pennsylvania, aggravated by Keith's publica- 
tions and the replies of the magistrates, gave 
the crown a pretext for assuming the govern- 
ment: an event which Penn had long dreaded. 



1G93.] ADMINISTRATIOX OF FLETCHER. 131 

The jurisdiction of Benjamin Fletcher, governor 
of New York, was extended over Pennsvlvania 
and the territories thereunto belonging; and in 
April, 1693, he took possession of the govern- 
ment. The government was surrendered to him 
without question, by the provincial authorities; 
but the Quaker magistrates declined to accept 
from him a renewal of their commissions. In 
the commission of Fletcher, William Penn is not 
mentioned, nor is the fact recognised that any 
government existed previous to his appointment. 
His term of government continued little over a 
year, and there is reason to suppose that he 
considered it only temporary. He immediately 
convened the assembly of the province and terri- 
tories, without regard to their disunion, or to 
the forms and time of the election, as provided 
in Penn's charter. The council remonstrated 
against these infractions, but the assembly met. 
The test oaths being declined by a majority of the 
members, they were permitted simply to subscribe 
the declarations and tests. The administration 
of Fletcher was remarkable for nothins: in the 
history of the colony, except that the house as- 
serted and procured the right of originating 
bills, which had been for some time suspended, 
and never formally granted. Fletcher appoint- 
ed Markham his deputy; and after some alter- 
cation about supplies to the crown, confirmed 
the colonial laws which were in force at the 



132 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1694. 



time of his appointment. He obtained a supply 
of money from the assembly at their first meet- 
ing; but at a second session was not so success- 
ful. William Penn did not approve this refusal ; 
for in a letter quoted by Proud, he complains of 
there being factious persons in the colony, who 
disturbed or threatened the tranquillity of the 
government. 

In 1694 William Penn was reinstated in his 
rio-hts. His true character, and his innocence 
of any intention to subvert the crown, were made 
manifest, and a full acquittal by the privy coun- 
cil concluded his political persecutions. His 
wife, who had shared as an affectionate consort 
in all his troubles, survived to see him set free, 
but her death dimmed the joy of his deliverance 
from suspicion. Embarrassments in his pecu- 
niary relations were now the impediment in the 
way of his return to Pennsylvania, and he ap- 
pointed, as his deputy-governor. Colonel Mark- 
ham. Thomas Lloyd would have received the 
appointment, but his death took place in Sep- 
tember, 1694. Thomas Lloyd was in office from 
the foundation of the government until his death. 
He was of eminent service both to the colony 
and the proprietary. Universally beloved for 
his virtues and amenity of character, he was 
marked for his talents and learning. Meek and 
unostentatious, yet firm and prudent, he had the 



1695.] markiiam's administration. 133 

rare happiness of commanding the respect and 
esteem of those who differed from him. 

Colonel Markham appears to have acted upon 
the presumption that the suspension of the pro- 
prietary's rule had annulled his Frame of Govern- 
ment. He called the legislature together on the 
10th of September, 1695. The governor neglected 
the charter provisions, and the assembly assented, 
supposing, as they alleged, that these neglects 
t'were not intended to be brought into example." 
The governor asked for supplies for the queen's 
government. The assembly passed such a bill 
as he desired, but coupled it with another, "con- 
taining some fundamental liberties." The go- 
vernor did not like the dilemma, and postponed 
it by unexpectedly dissolving the assembly. In 
November of the next year Governor Markham 
called another assembly. This proved no more 
pliant than the other. They met the governor 
Avith a remonstrance. He called upon them in 
the name of the crown for money to ''feed and 
clothe friendly Indians." They granted the 
money, coupled with the old conditions. To 
these Markham was compelled to submit, for 
William Penn had given the crown a pledge that 
his colony should contribute to the general de- 
fence. In a letter to some of his friends in the 
colony, Penn had blamed the assembly for " re- 
fusing to send money to New York for the com- 
mon defence," and expressed his apprehension 

12 



134 HISTORY OF PENNSYLYAJs^IA. [1699. 

that the government would be '^ overset again by 
such refusal." 

The bill of settlement passed by the assembly, 
and signed by Markham, but never approved by 
Penn, was, in fact, a third frame of government, 
and more democratic than the others. It dis- 
pensed with the delay of publishing bills before 
they were enacted, gave the assembly the right 
to originate acts, to sit on its own adjournments, 
and to remain in session during the term for 
which it was elected. These were important 
provisions, and their wisdom is shown by the 
quiet which the colony enjoyed. Rumours about 
piracy and charges against the moral character 
of the settlement were published in England, 
and caused an earnest remonstrance from Penn. 
It appears that the Delaware was the frequent 
resort of privateers and pirates ; but by these 
visits the colonists w^ere sufferers instead of being 
benefited. The governor and council in Febru- 
ary, 1698, issued a proclamation, calling on the 
magistrates to exercise increased vigilance against 
loose living and practices, and vindicating the 
province against exaggerated rumours. 

On the first of December, 1699, William Penn 
arrived at Chester, on his long-promised return 
to Philadelphia. He came accompanied by his 
wife and his daughter Letitia. Penn's second 
marriage was with Hannah, daughter of Thomas 
Callowhill, of Bristol. She was a woman of 



1699.] penn's second visit. 135 

great prudence and strength of mind, as subse- 
quently appeared in her connection with Penn- 
sylvania as his survivor and administratrix. James 
Loo-an came with Penn as his secretary. This 
gentleman was, from the date of his arrival till 
the time of his death, identified with the history 
of Pennsylvania. The landing of Penn at Ches- 
ter was clouded by an unfortunate accident. 
Some young men engaged in the strange com- 
pliment of firing a salute with a small piece of 
ordnance. One of them received an injury which 
resulted, in the spring following, in his death. 
The expenses of his last days and the cost of 
his interment were defrayed by William Penn. 

Penn arrived at Philadelphia on a Sunday. 
After a visit of form to the house of his lieu- 
tenant-governor, he went, followed by the crowd, 
who had assembled to greet him, to Friend's 
Meeting. Here he took part in the exercises ; 
and, after their close, repaired to his lodgings. 

The circumstances of the time were such as to 
give a peculiar solemnity to the meeting ; for 
the city and some parts of the colony had just 
recovered from the ravages of that fearful epi- 
demic, the yellow fever. In the respect which 
was shown him, and the cordiality with which he 
was received, Penn found some recompense for 
his past misfortunes. 

Logan thus writes to Penn's son of his father's 
reception: "The highest terms that I could use 



136 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1699. 

would hardly give you an idea of the expecta- 
tion and welcome which thy father received from 
most of the honester party here. Friends gene- 
rally concluded, that after all their troubles and 
disappointments, their province noAV scarcely 
wanted any thing more to render it completely 
happy. The faction that had long contended to 
overthrow the settled constitution of the govern- 
ment received a universal damp, yet endeavoured 
what mischief they could by speaking whispers 
that the proprietary could not act as governor 
without the king's approbation, and taking an 
oath as obliged by act of Parliament : but that, 
in a great measure, soon blew over." Penn's 
wife was well received; and his domestic attach- 
ments to his colony received promise of a new' 
tie in the birth of John Penn in a couple of 
months after his arrival. This son was called 
<'The American," being the only one of Penn's 
children born in this country. 

Penn summoned the assembly to meet as early 
as possible after his arrival, and pressed upon 
the members the importance of further legisla- 
tion against piracy and contraband trade. Two 
acts were passed with this purpose. A member 
of the house from one of the lower counties, 
being accused or suspected of connection with 
the Bucaneers, was expelled ; but it does not 
appear that the charge was substantiated against 
him. It seems to have been the practice in the 



1701.] NEW CHARTER. 137 

early days of Pennsylvania, when a member of 
the council or assembly was accused of mal- 
practices, to require him to give up his seat till 
he could prove himself innocent. Several meet- 
ings of the assembly took place during Penn's 
visit to the country — for a visit only it proved, 
though he designed to make Pennsylvania his 
permanent residence, and had come over for that 
purpose. He applied himself with great industry 
to the settlement of the colonial laws and liber- 
ties, renewed his treaties and intercourse with 
the Indians, and found time also to apply him- 
self to the interests and welfare of the Society 
of Friends. His characteristic activity and his 
personal influence effected so much, that the in- 
convenience of his absence from his colony was 
the more sensibly felt and deplored by compari- 
son with the benefits of his presence. 

The union of the province and territories con- 
tinued still to be a subject of difference. Under 
Colonel Fletcher, the discordant parties had 
been forced into a union, and upon Penn's ar- 
rival they took early opportunity to move for its 
abrogation. The subject of a new frame of go- 
vernment occupied the attention of the assembly 
and governor. Penn had never approved that 
passed under the administration of Governor 
Markham. The frame was not completed until 
October, 1701 ; and it was then accepted under 
the spur of haste, Penn being on the point of 

12* 



138 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1701., 

returning to England. The new charter dis- 
pensed with the elective council, and vested the 
legislative power in the governor and assembly. 
The assembly was composed of four members 
from each county, which number might be in- 
creased by law. The assembly had all the 
powers and privileges which are now recognised 
as belonging to a legislative body. Sheriffs 
were elected by the people and governor, the 
freemen in each county returning two persons, 
one of whom the governor appointed. There 
was no provision for a judiciary in the charter, 
and no recognition of the council, except a pro- 
vision forbidding the governor and council to 
take cognisance of any question relative to pro- 
perty, except by appeal from the courts. The 
province and territories were allowed permission 
to di-ssolve their union at any time within three 
years. To assist the governor in his duties, 
Penn appointed a council of state, consisting of 
ten members, who were empowered to consult 
and aid, with the best of their advice, the pro- 
prietor himself, or his deputies. This frame 
seems to have been prepared with a view to the 
possibility that the crown would resume the 
government ; and it was so guarded as to pro- 
tect the proprietor and people from oppression 
by royal governors. With these objects in view, 
Penn circumscribed himself to a degree that was 
afterward discovered to be irksome. 



1701.] QUIT-RENT DISPUTES. 139 



Althongli Philadelphia appears to have been, 
before this date, a city in fact ; in October, 
1701, Penn granted a charter. In this instru- 
ment he appointed Edward Shippen mayor, and 
Thomas Story recorder. He appointed also the 
iSrst aldermen and common councilmen. By 
this charter, the government of the city was a 
close corporation, adding to their own number, 
and electing the mayor — the latter officer being 
chosen annually, the others being removable 
only for misbehaviour. 

There commenced, at this period, a series of 
disputes between the proprietary and the as- 
sembly, in relation to the tenures of property, the 
quit-rents, and other difficulties, to record which 
T/ould require uninteresting details. These dif- 
ferences continued in one form or other during 
the term of the proprietary government, being 
inherited by Penn's heirs, and made the basis 
of the action of the anti-proprietary party. 
Obliging and careless concessions, made when 
the country was first surveyed and land was com- 
paratively valueless, were construed into rights, 
and quoted as precedents. We find, in review- 
ing the subject, a selfish spirit on the part of 
some of the settlers, little consonant with the 
gratitude which was due to William Penn ; and 
on his side a determined resistance was made to 
these attempts to control him in the disposal of 
his private estate. 



140 HISTORY OF PEXXSYLVANIA. [1701. 

With these wounded feelings Penn took leave of 
his colony. A bill was already before the House 
of Lords to change the proprietary goverments 
in America into regal ones. The friends of Penn 
in England procured a postponement of the pas- 
sage of the act till he could return and remon- 
strate. With these facts before him, he besought 
the assembly to unanimity, lest difficulties be- 
tween himself and his people, or between parties 
in his colony, might furnish his enemies with the 
very pretext they desired. '' Think," said he, 
" since all men are mortal, of some suitable ex- 
pedient and provision for your safety, as well in 
your privilege as property, and you will find me 
ready to comply with whatever may render us 
happy by a nearer union of our interest." And 
again : " Yield in circumstantials, to preserve 
essentials ; and being safe in one another, you 
will always be so in esteem with me. Make me 
not sad, now I am going to leave you, since it is 
for you as well as for me." 

The assembly formally desired William Penn, 
in case he should go to England, that " due care 
should be taken that he should be represented 
in the colony by persons of integrity." He of- 
fered them the nomination. They declined it, 
either from inability, modesty, or fear to take 
the responsibility. He nominated Andrew Ha- 
milton, one of the proprietors of East Jersey, 
and formerly governor of that colony. James 



1701.] DEPARTURE OF PENN. 141 

Logan was appointed provincial secretary, and 
clerk of the council. Mr. Logan was also his 
confidential agent ; and to his interest and super- 
vision he intrusted all his private affairs, and 
such public concerns as required to be conducted 
rather by influence than express authority. There 
was much to disquiet the proprietary at his de- 
parture, and not the least was that the assembly 
had proved intractable under the request of the 
crown for three hundred and fifty pounds for 
colonial defence. His wife and daughter, as ap- 
pears by his confidential correspondence, were 
dissatisfied with Pennsylvania as a residence : 
and thus he took leave of his colony, in Novem- 
ber, 1701, as the event proved, for ever. 



142 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1703. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Governor Hamilton — Refusal of the territories and the province 
to unite — Growing opposition to the proprietary interest — 
First Episcopal church in Pennsylvania — Governor Evans — 
His character — False alarm of invasion — Consternation and 
serious consequences — Heroism and consistency" of the Qua- 
kers — Results of this foolish farce — Fort at New Castle — 
Bold conduct of a Quaker shipowner — Recall of Evans — ■ 
Events in England — Penn's position at the court of Queen 
Anne — His family, pecuniary, and other misfortunes — Go- 
vernor Gookin appointed — Continued difficulties with the 
assembly — Refusal to raise money for defence— The governor 
declines to pass the bills enacted — Incautious admission re- 
lative to the council — Logan presents David Lloyd — The 
assembly acquit their speaker — Logan arrested by the 
speaker's warrant — He is released by the governor — Letter 
of William Penn to the assembly — Election of a new house 
— Restoration of harmony — Close of Governor Gookin's ad- 
ministration. 

Governor, Hamilton's administration lasted 
but little more than a year, being terminated by 
his death, which occurred in April, 1703. In 
spite of all his efforts, the territories and the 
province refused to coalesce. The representa- 
tives of the former declared, that by acting with 
the provinces they should recognise the last con- 
stitution, which they had not accepted. The 
separation was final, and all the efforts of Ha- 
milton and his successor failed to produce a re- 
union. "When at last the territories became 



1703.] OPPOSITIOX TO PEOPRIETARY. 143 

tractable, the province discovered that to enact 
la"ft's by a representative body, a portion of 
whose members were from a country not included 
in Penn's grant, would not be legal, but con- 
trary to the charter. They were somewhat late 
in making this discovery ; but when men are de- 
termined upon a course, it is not difficult to find 
reasons for it. Governor Hamilton endeavoured 
to provide for the defence of the province by 
the organization of a militia. One company, 
the first in the province, was formed in Phila- 
delphia, and others w^ere proposed in other parts 
of the province and territories. The population 
and policy of the colony now began to lo«e its 
Quaker preponderance ; and a strong party w^as 
forming, which received with pleasure, rather 
than with dislike, the proposed change of the go- 
vernment from a proprietary to a regal one. 
The influence of this party embarrassed Penn in 
England and his deputies in the colonies ; while 
at the same time the impracticable character of 
some of the leading Friends in the province de- 
feated or delayed the measures which Penn 
would have taken to confute the charges against 
the proprietary government, and the alleged un- 
fitness of the Quakers to rule a colony. Never 
was a man placed in a more anomalous and em- 
barrassing position. He was compelled to reside 
constantly near the court, or to provide an 
agent there to meet the efforts of his opponents ; 



144 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1704. 

and stung with the unfriendliness of some of the 
officers of his own appointment, he directed Go- 
vernor Hamilton to remove them. 

In 1700 the first church holding the faith of 
the English establishment was opened in Phila- 
delphia, under the direction of Kev. Evan Evans, 
who was sent out as a missionary by the Bishop 
of London. The religious faith of the Friends 
makes so essential a difference in their political 
creed and sympathies, that adherence to the 
English establishment was almost necessarily 
opposition to the Quaker party. The existence 
of a foreign war added difficulty; for the adhe- 
rents to creeds opposed to the Friends could not 
be expected to assent to their posture of non- 
resistance, and the refusal to appropriate money 
for the military defence of the colony. 

Such was the condition of things when John 
Evans, appointed to succeed Governor Hamilton, 
arrived at Philadelphia, in February, 1704. No- 
thing in the way of legislation had been done in 
the short interregnum, the council, upon whom 
the executive authority devolved, not feeling 
sure of their own powers. Governor Evans re- 
mained in office until 1709, and appears not to 
have administered the affairs of the government 
with much satisfaction to himself or to the colo- 
nists. His desire to be faithful to the proprietary 
was undoubted, but he had not the discretion or 
wisdom which was requisite to fill a post so 



1706.] GpVERNMENT OF EVANS. 145 

troublesome. He had little knowledge of human 
nature, and less tact ; unguarded in his language, 
and loose in his morals. Young, haughty, fond of 
pleasure, and indiscreet, he forfeited the personal 
regard of his people, and laboured to compel that 
respect for his official station which he could not 
command for his personal character. His recall 
was at last obtained by the unanimous request 
of both the proprietary and opposition party; 
and his ill-advised measures erected the opposi- 
tion into a formidable interest. His character 
was justly assailable, and William Penn was held 
accountable in the public mind for his continu- 
ance in office. But Evans would sooner have 
been removed, could a successor have been 
found. 

It is not necessary to follow all the disputes 
between the governor and the assembly. One 
or two prominent events may show the character 
of the relations between Governor Evans and 
the people. Having pressed in vain upon the 
assembly the need of preparations for military 
defence, he resorted to a foolish stratagem. On 
the day of the annual fair in Philadelphia, in 
ITOG, Governor Evans procured a false alarm to 
be spread in the city that the French were ap- 
proaching, and that their vessels were already in 
the Delaware. Governor Evans rode through 
the streets in military array, with his sword 
drawn, calling on the people to meet under arms, 

13 



146 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVA^^IA. [ITOG. 

at a place indicated. Panic seized the popula- 
tion — valuables were thrown into wells — and a 
general disposition for flight seized nearly all 
who could run ; while the consternation resulted 
in serious distress, in many instances, among the 
invalid and the delicate. Several untimely 
births took place, and the foolish joke was in 
other respects the cause of bodily and pecuniary 
suffering. The Quakers, who were holding their 
religious meeting as usual, sat still amid the 
confusion with a dignity and courage which 
would have done honour to a Roman senate, and 
only four of their members repaired in arms to 
the rendezvous. Secretary Logan condescended, 
though a member of the Society of Friends, to 
play a part in this memorable farce. Under 
pretence of observing the enemy, he went upon 
the river, and communicated with the governor 
by concerted signals. He even stopped a sloop 
whose arrival would have dispelled the delusion, 
and caused a pretended French flag to be dis- 
played from her mast. At least such were the 
charges against him, and such the popular be- 
lief. 

The imposture was detected before night; and 
the governor's creatures who had created the 
false alarm were glad to make their escape from 
real danger, and to seek in flight safety from the 
fury of the justly indignant people. The ex- 
periment on the sincerity of the Friends was 



1706.] GOVERNMENT OF EVANS. 147 

completely unsuccessful, the governor sank still 
lower, and the influence of Logan received a 
shock from which it was long in recovering; 
thoudi his known excellence of moral character 
and unquestioned abilities could not be set aside 
by a single act of folly. 

Governor Evans attempted another act of an- 
noyance of a more serious character. Having 
failed to bring about a legislative union of the 
territories with the province, the latter becoming 
unwilling after the former had consented, Go- 
vernor Evans endeavoured, through the legisla- 
ture of the territories, to annoy the province. 
He caused a fort to be erected at New Castle, 
at which all vessels navigating the Delaware 
were compelled to report themselves under pe- 
nalty, and inward bound vessels not owned in the 
province were compelled to pay a duty of half 
a pound of powder to the ton. Richard Hill, a 
Quaker resident of Philadelphia, determined to 
resist the imposition, and passed the fort without 
heeding the summons or the guns of the fortifica- 
tion. He stood himself at the helm, and the vessel 
received no other injury than a shot through the 
mainsail. The commander of the fort pursued 
the vessel in an armed boat. As soon as he 
stepped on board, his boat was cut adrift, and 
he was carried by his Quaker captors a pri- 
soner to Salem, New Jersey. Lord Cornbury, 
Governor of New Jersey, and Yice-Admiral of 



148 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [170G. 

the Delaware, gave him a severe reprimand, of 
which Governor Evans, who had followed in a 
passion, received also a share.. So ended the 
effort to exact river dues from the Pennsylva- 
nians. The navigation of the river was no 
longer impeded. 

During Governor Evans's administration the 
assembly avoided making any provision for the 
public defence; but they put their refusal on the 
ground of poverty. At the next session, after 
the false alarm above related, when requested to 
take measures for the public defence, they an- 
swered with a spirited remonstrance against the 
authors of the false alarm. A remonstrance was 
also forwarded to the proprietary against the 
governor and the provincial secretary. Articles 
of impeachment were prepared against Logan, 
which the governor refused to entertain. The 
subject of the establishment of a judiciary, a 
former bill having been refused the royal assent, 
was another cause of contention; and when his 
recall was announced, nobody in the province 
regretted the change. 

During the passage of these events in Penn- 
sylvania, the death of William III. and accession 
of Anne had put William Penn in his old position 
of favour in England. The bill to change the 
proprietary governments failed, but an act was 
passed which put William Penn to some incon- 
venience. By this law the royal assent was re- 



1709.] ARRIVAL OF GOOKIN. 149 

quired to the appointment of deputy-governors, 
and this statute gave the. discontented a chance 
of remonstrance, direct or indirect, at the time 
of the appointment, and a colour for appeal to 
the crown during the official term of the officers 
who had received the regal sanction. That Penn 
was in favour with the queen and those near her 
w^as a most fortunate circumstance both for him- 
self and his colony. At no time was he under 
greater embarrassment ; and, to increase his dis- 
tress, his son William, who had accompanied Go- 
vernor Evans to Philadelphia, proved entirely 
unworthy, and was guilty of extravagances and 
excessi^s which wellnigh broke the father's 
heart. The enemies of Penn in England were 
kept advised by their correspondents in America 
of all that could tend to promote their purposes. 
Pecuniary embarrassments came in to complete 
his unhappiness. His great expenditures on the 
province, which yielded him little or no return, 
his devotion to public affiiirs, secular and re- 
ligious, his neglect of his private affiiirs, and un- 
due confidence in a dishonest steward, reduced 
him to great straits. The heirs of the steward 
commenced a suit, based on extortionate charges, 
and Penn was confined within the debtors' rules 
of the Fleet prison. He was relieved from this 
humiliation by mortgaging the province, and his 
political rights therein, to certain worthy Friends, 
wdio left the province in his direction. They 

13* 



150 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1709. 

appointed trustees in the province to superintend 
their interest, and the loan was repaid from the 
sale of lands and from quit-rents. 

Charles Gookin was the next deputy-governor, 
and arrived in the province in the month of 
March, 1709. The assembly, being in a factious 
spirit, mixed their congratulations upon his arrival 
with complaints against the former governor. 
Governor Gookin strove to avoid being entangled 
in the difficulties in relation to his predecessors, 
but the assembly soon found pretext to complain 
against him; and he was involved in as un- 
pleasant an altercation as Governor Evans had 
been. The public service now urgently required 
supplies, since an invasion of the French pos- 
sessions was determined on by the British minis- 
try. Pennsylvania was called upon for one 
hundred and fifty men ; and Governor Gookin, 
aware of the difficulty of enlisting men, proposed 
to the assembly to raise four thousand pounds 
instead. 

The assembly, after some delay, replied that 
they "could not in conscience provide money to 
hire men to kill each other," but oifered, as part 
of the revenue of the queen, five hundred pounds. 
This the governor refused as inadequate, and he 
declined also to confirm any bill offered by the 
house until they should vote a proper supply. 
At another session the governor's demand was 
repeated. The assembly voted him five hundred 



1709.] IMPEACHMENT OF LLOYD. 151 

pounds again, three hundred for Indian ex- 
penses, and two hundred for the governor's own 
use. This grant was coupled with a condition 
that he should approve the bills then before 
him. 

Now came another storm. In his message to 
the legislature. Governor Gookin refused to take 
any further part in legislation until ample pro- 
vision had been made for his support. He per- 
mitted the fact to appear, that his instructions 
from the proprietary forbade him to pass any 
law without the assent of his council, the mem- 
bers of which, it will be recollected, were no 
longer elected by the people, but were appointed 
by the proprietary. The assembly were highly 
offended that a council with advisory powers 
should be vested with absolute authority, and 
their wrath fell upon Logan, whose voice it was 
well understood was predominant. 

Logan now retaliated upon his old enemies by 
preferring to the house, through the governor, 
charges of impeachment against David Lloyd 
the speaker. Lloyd was a prominent leader of 
the anti-proprietary party, and had led the 
house in the altercations with Governor Evans. 
Lloyd at once called upon his accuser to sub- 
stantiate his charges. Logan declined at that 
time to prosecute the impeachment, as he was on 
the eve of departure for Europe; but the house 
at once proceeded to the investigation, and 



152 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1709. 

dismissed the charge as false, scandalous, and 
libellous. 

Logan now called for his trial on the im- 
peachment formerly preferred against him, and 
in a petition to the house, used language for 
which he was arrested under the warrant of the 
speaker. The governor released secretary Lo- 
gan by a supersedeas, directed to the sheriff. 
The governor based this proceeding on the 
ground that the assembly had no power to arrest 
any person not a member of their own body, and 
he denied also the legality of the assembly. The 
latter denial was based on the fact that, having 
failed to meet on the day named in the writ for 
its assembling, the house was ipso facto dissolved. 
These positions were hardly tenable, but answered 
the purpose desired, of preventing Logan's de- 
tention. He was prepared to go to England, 
and sailed accordingly. 

The results of the conference between Penn 
and Logan soon appeared in a letter addressed 
by William Penn to the assembly, and un- 
doubtedly intended for the whole colony. This 
paper is one of the best which proceeded from 
the pen of the proprietary, and shows little 
indication of his advanced age. Calm and cour- 
teous, it is still manly, direct, and convinc- 
ing. He gives a very impartial narrative of 
the history of the colony and his own services; 
and he mildly but in direct and strong language 



1712.] RESTORATION OF HARMONY. 153 

defends his deputies, and recounts the encroach- 
ments attempted and effected by the assembly, 
both upon his political and personal rights. He 
intimated that if the people endorsed the acts 
of the assembly by re-electing the old members, 
he should then understand what course to take. 
The effect of this letter was remarkable. Not 
an individual belonging to the late assembly was 
returned at the next election. 

.For several years every thing proceeded in 
harmony between Governor Gookin and the as- 
sembly. Two thousand pounds were raised by 
the assembly for the queen's service. Harmony 
between the legislature and executive produced 
its fruits in the regular administration of govern- 
ment, the establishment of the judiciary, the im- 
provement of the revenue, and the subsidence 
of the animosity of party spirit. Among the 
acts passed in 1712 was one forbidding the im- 
portation of negroes and Indians as slaves. 
This act was annulled by the crown. The reason 
for the refusal of the royal assent to the bill was 
probably based on the ground that it was an in- 
terference with the commercial interests of the 
mother country. The slave-trade was at this 
time largely conducted by English companies. 
At the very time that the Pennsylvania legisla- 
tors were forbidding the importation into their 
province, the British negotiators of the Treaty 
of Utrecht were obtaining the contract, or 



154 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1717. 

i^asientOy'' for the South Sea Comi3any, for the 
annual transportation to Spanish America of not 
less than four thousand eight hundred negroes. 
The defeated measure against the slave-trade 
was not, however, the first which had been taken 
in Pennsylvania. The Friends, as a religious 
society, had already moved in the matter. 

Governor Gookin's administration continued 
till 1717. On the whole it was quiet, but the 
latter years were made uncomfortable by some 
illegal stretches of authority, and neglect of 
duty. In 1716 he chose so to construe an act 
of Parliament respecting oaths and afiirmations 
as effectually to deprive the Friends from all 
share in the government of the province, or the 
administration of justice. Governor Gookin fell 
into many other follies and weaknesses, until at 
last the council united in a petition for his 
removal. He had charged Isaac Norris and 
James Loyage with disaffection and disloyalty 
to the British crown; and being called upon, 
after the arrival Of his successor in the govern- 
ment, to substantiate these accusations, he re- 
tracted them openly, and pleaded mental de- 
rangement as an apology for his conduct. 



1.718.] DEATH OF PENN. 155 



CHAPTER IX. 

Death of Queen Anne, and accession of George I.^ — Decay of 
William Penn — His last hours — His religious and political 
character — Contemplated sale of the government to the 
crown — Management of affairs during Penn's illness — Penn's 
will and heirs — Protracted litigation — Governor Keith — His 
activity, sauvity, and tact — ATeets the assemblies of the ter- 
ritories and the province — His opening message to the latter 
— Good feeling on both sides — Liberal grant of money by 
the assembly — A chancery court established by proclamation 
• — A militia created — Expulsion of Ashton from the council 
— Veto of naturalization law — Measures against convict pas- 
sengers — Indian relations — Prosperity of the colony — Diffi- 
culty between Keith and the council — The governor removes 
Logan from his offices — Logan visits England, and returns 
with instructions for his reinstatement — Keith vindicates his 
conduct, and refuses to comply — He transmits the correspond- 
ence to the assembly — Logan memorialises that body — The 
assembly vote the governor one thousand pounds — Keith 
superseded by Governor Gordon — Benjamin Franklin and 
Keith. 

During Governor Gookin's administration, 
Queen Anne died, and was succeeded by George 
I. But an event more directly interesting to 
the province of Pennsylvania occurred in 1712, 
in the prostration of the vigorous mind of the 
Founder of Pennsylvania by a succession of 
paralytic attacks, which left him in a feeble and 
helpless condition. Thus he remained until the 
80th day of July, 1718, when he died, in the 



156 HISTORY OF TENNSYLVANIA. [1718. 

74th year of his age. Of the last years of his 
life it was remarked by his friends with much 
pleasure, that, though incapable of business, his 
mind was placid and clear upon the religious im- 
pressions and associations which had formed so 
large an element of his character, and so great a 
part of the business of his life. It was piously 
believed by his friends, that the affliction which 
visited him was a mercy, in its forcible with- 
drawal of his attention from public affairs, and 
from the embarrassments which afflicted him — 
that the evening of his days might be passed in 
religious rest and peace. 

So far as he had looked for wealth or honour 
from being the founder of a state, William Penn's 
expectations were disappointed. His latest let- 
ters exhibit his grief at the failure of his hopes, 
and his disappointment at the imperfect issue of 
his great experiment. He found indifference 
and exaction where he had looked for filial love 
and reverence, and ever turned from his disap- 
pointment in the world to the consolations of the 
faith he so constantly maintained. The religious 
life of Penn is the most interesting phase of his 
character to those who can appreciate it; and 
the coldest worldly mind must admire even what 
it cannot understand. 

His political sagacity has a wider circle of ad- 
mirers. Whatever imperfections may have origi- 
nated from the anomalous position which he 



1718.] CHARACTER OF PENN. 157 

held, and whatever curious Wending of feudal 
notions with liberal and philanthropic views, 
still the founder was far in advance of his 
times. While the superficial observer, at this 
distance, wonders at the few absolute notions 
which he indulged in, his contemporaries were 
astonished at his conceding principles of free- 
dom, which we noAV treat, not as concessions, but 
as inherently true. And in the administration 
of justice, if as an executive officer he was some- 
times inclined to be summary, as a legislator he 
practically exhibited reforms in the graduation 
of punishment, which later theorists advanced as 
discoveries, and later legislatures have assumed 
as principles. 

Nearly the last act of his official life was to 
enter into an agreement to cede his government 
to the crown. The consideration was twelve 
thousand pounds, payable in four years, and he 
received one thousand pounds on account, but 
before the legal forms were completed he was 
prostrated. His valuable and energetic wife, 
Hannah Penn, assisted by some of her con- 
nections, and by the trustees under the mort- 
gage, conducted the affairs of the province dur- 
ing Penn's illness, carefully keeping from him 
all rumours and circumstances which might dis- 
turb his serenity. Secretary Logan, in the pro- 
vince, was efficient and invaluable. Sir William 
Keith rendered important services in London, 

14 



158 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1717. 

giving that personal attention to the affairs of 
the province in the government offices, which 
the ilhiess of the proprietary precluded him from 
bestowing upon them. 

The surviving children of William Penn were 
William and Letitia by his first wife, and John, 
Thomas, Margaret, Richard, and Dennis, by the 
second. Two of his children died during his 
life. By his will, made in anticipation of his 
contract with the crown, he devised his English 
and Irish estates to the issue of his first mar- 
riage ; and from his American possessions he 
made provision for the payment of his debts, 
and for his widow and her children, deducting 
a bequest of ten thousand acres to each of his 
children and grandchildren by his first marriage. 
The government of the province was devised in 
trust to the Earls of Oxford, Mortimer, and 
Pawlet, to sell to the queen, or any other person. 
His estate in the soil was devised to other 
trustees, and his widow was made sole executrix 
and legatee of his personal estate. This will 
was nine years in chancery, until in 1727 the 
instrument was established, and the sale to the 
crown was declared void. Mrs. Penn, as execu- 
trix and trustee, had meanwhile assumed the 
direction of the affairs of the province. On the 
settlement of the various questions arising out 
of the will, the proprietary government devolved 
on John, Thomas, and Richard Penn. William 



1717.] SIR WILLIAM KEITH. 159 

had attempted to assume the direction as heir- 
at-law, and even assumed to grant new commis- 
sions to the governor and secretary. The go- 
vernor paid no heed to his commission, but 
relied on that of his father, and the Lords of 
Trade confirmed him in his decision. William 
Penn, jr. died in 1720, and his only son did not 
long survive him. 

Sir William Keith, to whose appointment Mrs. 
Penn had cheerfully assented, arrived at Phila- 
delphia on the last day of May, 1717. He com- 
menced in a clear and business-like manner to 
settle most questions and compose diflferences. 
He had some useful colonial experience, having 
been surveyor-general of the southern provinces ; 
and in his visits to Philadelphia had acquired 
the good-will of the leading men in the city, as 
he afterward did that of the pi;oprietary family 
in London. His administration opened under 
favourable auspices, and for several years the 
event did not belie this promise. 

Sir William met the assembly of the territories 
before he did that of the province, and procured 
from that body a memorial in favour of the 
proprietary claim to that government. This was 
the more an evidence of tact, since .during the 
last years of Gookin's administration the mis- 
conduct of that officer had induced the territo- 
ries to pray for the appointment of a royal 
governor. This matter required expedition; but 



160 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1717. 

there being nothing in the affairs of the province 
which ]*equired immediate attention, Governor 
Keith, with polite consideration, forbore to call 
the assembly together mitil the latter part of 
August. He took care in his address to claim 
proper credit for his consideration in leaving 
them uninterrupted in their harvest operations, 
and promised always to make their public duties 
easy and pleasant. The whole style of the ad- 
dress was in the like conciliatory and pleasant 
strain, claiming all credit to himself for his ser- 
vices in London, and promising what is always ac- 
ceptable to all people, "better economy and more 
frugal arrangement in the collection of taxes." 
The house replied in a tone equally polite and 
conciliatory ; and what was more to the purpose, 
responded to a delicate hint of the governor's 
"expensive application in London," and the 
"diligence and expense with which he had ob- 
tained his commission," by an immediate grant 
of five hundred and fifty pounds. This cheer- 
ful reimbursement of his expenses in seeking his 
ofiice is one of the curious facts in history ; but 
if it shows that Governor Keith's politeness and 
suavity were not lost, it redeems the legislature 
of the province from the sordid appearance which 
some of their former transactions seemed to 
exhibit. 

The new governor proved himself as good as 
his word in relation to the public burdens, and 



1717.] CHANCERY COURT ESTABLISHED. 161 

tlie legislature effectively co-operating, the wants 
of the government were ascertained and promptly 
met. Regularity was introduced into the pub- 
lic business of the province. Public officers were 
better paid, with less burden to the people. The 
value of agricultural products was raised by 
judicious laws, prohibiting the use of molasses 
and other foreign articles in the manufacture of 
beer and spirits. Inspection laws were passed, 
which gave Pennsylvania flour and salted pro- 
visions a good reputation in foreign markets. 
A chancery court, which had been a subject of 
contention between the assembly and the go- 
vernor, was established by Keith's proclamation, 
at the request of the assembly, the deputy- 
governor being chancellor. He submitted ''with 
great deference" the opinion to the house, ''by 
whose judgment he was desirous to be governed," 
that the office of chancellor could legally be exe- 
cuted by himself. "Great deference" procured 
what great assumption in Governor Evans could 
not ; and vet the office of chancellor in the hands 
of the proprietary governor was in implied if not 
direct contravention of that clause in the charter 
of privileges which forbade the governor and 
council to exercise judiciary power in courts 
which had cognisance relative to property. 

Sir William's influence procured also the esta- 
blishment of a militia system, under the restric- 
tion that the service should be voluntary. So 

14* 



162 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1717. 

great was his popularity that some of the friends 
of the proprietary family became alarmed, and 
entertained suspicions of his intention to over- 
throw their power, and to assert a claim to his 
office, as held under the crown, superior to their 
appointment. His disregard of the commission 
of young Penn had caused umbrage to some 
members of the family, and gave colour to the 
suspicions against Keith. William Ashton, a 
relative of the Penn family, a member of the 
council, wrote to William Penn the younger, 
cautioning him to beware of Governor Keith. 
The governor then expelled him from the council 
board. In truth, Keith did not lack firmness 
and sternness of purpose on occasions which were 
worth his while ; but he was too prudent to waste 
his time in petty disputes, or to attempt to carry 
that by prerogative which could be done by con- 
ciliation. He could dissent from the assembly 
when his judgment told him that the measures 
of that body were wrong or illegal, and he seldom 
if ever failed to carry his point if it was one of 
importance. A bill for the naturalization of 
foreigners, which included a requirement that 
they should each obtain from a justice of the 
peace a certificate of the value of their property, 
and of the nature of their religious faith, was 
returned by him with the objection that scrutiny 
into the religious faith and the private estates 
of persons living under English liberty and law 



1717.] PROSPERITY OF THE COLONY. 163 

was unjust and dangerous. The house yielded 
to his reasoning. But it was not the policy of 
the legislature to encourage the arrival of im- 
migrants. The crowds of the poor who were 
thrown upon the charities of Philadelphia, and 
the danger of disturbances with the Indians from 
the settlement of strangers on the frontiers, were 
the principal causes of this objection. There 
were more labourers and servants than employ- 
ment, and freemen found the value of their 
labour reduced by the competition of slaves and 
<'redemptioners." This last term was applied 
to men who bound themselves to service on their 
arrival in the colony for the payment of their 
passage money. Many convicts were also trans- 
ported from England to the colonies. To meet 
this abuse, a law was passed during Governor 
Keith's administration which imposed a penalty 
of five pounds per head on the felon passengers, 
recoverable of the importer or employer, and 
also obliged the importer to give bonds in twenty 
pounds for the good behaviour of each convict 
for one year. 

In his intercourse with the Indians, Keith was 
very successful. He arranged with the governor 
of Virginia, and with the governors of New 
York and the New England colonies, two con- 
ferences with the aborigines, at which disputes 
were satisfactorily adjusted which threatened 
difficulty. He also purchased sections of land 



164 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1717. 

to avoid collision, and in all respects proved him- 
self an able and active officer. The assembly 
frequently and formally expressed their satis- 
faction, not only in words but in act. Keith 
received the first year sixteen hundred pounds 
as salary and perquisites, and subsequently about 
eighteen hundred annually. He proposed and 
carried the creation of a paper currency, and 
forty-five thousand pounds were issued in bills of 
credit to borrowers by the government, redeema- 
ble in eight years. The provincial debts were 
paid, private enterprise was stimulated, and the 
colony was in a state of prosperity greater than 
it had ever known before. 

But while proceeding so happily with the peo- 
ple and the assembly, Keith was losing ground 
with the council, and making a determined 
enemy of James Logan. This gentleman, ever 
watchful for the interests of the proprietary 
family, had guided former governors almost ab- 
solutely, and had in fact ruled the province in 
important particulars as the alter ego of William 
Penn. Keith early determined to throw off the 
yoke of the council. Under the administration 
of Gookin, the assembly had resisted the claim 
of the council to be considered a part of the 
legislature, and to control the province by an 
absolute veto. Keith, who knew that the charter 
conferred no such functions upon the council, 
intimated his intention to pass certain bills with- 



1722.] DISPUTE WITH LOGAN. 165 

out the assent of the majority of the board, if he 
saw fit. The majority, including Logan, left the 
board instantly to defeat such summary action. 
Keith, with the minority, passed the bills. Lo- 
gan and the dissentients remonstrated, insisting 
that the council formed a part of the legislature, 
and that although their legislative functions were 
not recognised in the charter, the instructions 
given to the deputies supplied the omission. 
Keith controverted these positions, and declared 
that the private instructions of the deputy could 
not be opposed to the clear sense of the funda- 
mental laws of the province, and told the dis- 
sidents that if they expected to obtain a nega- 
tive on the legislative authority, they would cer- 
tainly be disappointed. This afiair occurred in 
1718. Logan continued in office until 1722, as 
provincial secretary and clerk of the council. 
In that year, Logan prepared a minute of the 
proceedings of the board, including some dis- 
respectful remarks made by some of the mem- 
bers upon Governor Keith. This he placed upon 
the journal without its having been formally 
approved by the council. The substantial cor- 
rectness of the minute was admitted, but Keith 
declared it a falsification of the records, and dis- 
missed Logan from the offices of counsellor and 
secretary. 

As in his former dispute, which was with the 
assembly, Mr. Logan had repaired to England 



166 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1722. 

for advice and assistance, so did he in this di- 
lemma. He returned with new and peremptory 
instructions from Mrs. Penn and her advisers, 
sustaining the dismissed secretary in every par- 
ticular, and enjoining Keith to reinstate Logan 
in all his offices — to make no speech, send no 
message, return no bills, and pass no law without 
the assent of a majority of the counciL Mrs. 
Penn also condemned the issue of paper money, 
and found nothing in Keith's administration to 
approve, except his Indian treaties, and even of 
these the merit was given to the council. The 
trustees added a letter to Governor Keith, in 
which they intimated that, if disputes must be 
had, he might not always be a party to them. 
His continuance in office they told him was only 
in the willingness of Hannah Penn that he should 
have a further trial, and the result depended on 
his adherence to her instructions. If question 
rose, they added, ''there is sufficient power to 
end all disputes with thee about it." 

These letters and instructions were the more 
unpalatable from being brought to him by Lo- 
gan. Keith was a man of no small penetration, 
as his course indicated. He thought probably 
that Logan's failure to procure his removal was 
not due to Hannah Penn's "willingness to give 
him further trial," but to the want of con- 
currence among the parties inttrested, the estate 
being still in litigation. He felt assured that 



1722.] DISPUTE WITH KEITH. 167 

Logan and Mrs. Penn would have removed him 
instantly if they could have done it. His posi- 
tion was fortified by the prosperous state of the 
province and his personal popularity. Instead 
of conforming to his instructions, he refused to 
reinstate Logan. He justified his course in a 
letter to Hannah Penn, in which he alluded to the 
security which he had given, in accordance to 
Act of Parliament, that he would obey the royal 
instructions ; and maintained that to admit the 
veto of the council in legislation would be to 
invade the royal prerogative. 

The letters he had received, with his reply, 
he communicated to the assembly. Logan also 
memorialized that body. David Lloyd, Logan's 
old antagonist, now chief-justice of the province, 
published a long opinion adverse to the council 
and supporting the governor. Keith himself 
replied to Logan, and the whole public became 
interested in the dispute. The assembly sided 
with the governor, highly approved of his con- 
duct, voted him a thousand pounds, and de- 
spatched a remonstrance to the widow of the 
proprietary. 

Keith was victor, but his position was pre- 
carious. His strength lay in the fact that he 
was nominally appointed by William Penn, and 
that the administratory powers of his widow, 
assumed during the pendency of the suit at law, 
were of too doubtful a tenure to embolden her 



168 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726. 

to remove him without the consent of all the 
claimants under the ■will, and the trustees of the 
estate under the mortgage. Keith's enemies in 
England were active; the proprietary influence 
in the province, led by Logan, was more powerful 
in England than in the province; and the in- 
fluence of the Friends was brought to bear 
against him by artful misrepresentations — or at 
best by misconstructions of his conduct. A way 
was discovered to procure unanimity among the 
representatives of Penn. They agreed upon a 
successor; and, to avoid the questions which 
might arise out of his appointment by Hannah 
Penn, Springett Penn, the grandson of the 
founder, and his heir-at-law, proposed him to the 
crown, and he was appointed. Eumours of this 
proposed change reached the province before the 
official intelligence, and it is intimated were com- 
municated to members of the legislature, but con- 
cealed from Keith. The waning fortunes of the 
governor were manifest in the coolness of the 
assembly. Keith desired a vote approbatory of 
his course in relation to the dispute with the 
council and proprietaries. This vote, after delay, 
was reluctantly granted, and expressed in cold 
terms. They further displayed their changing 
humour by granting only four hundred pounds 
toward his support for the year 1726. This 
injustice stung him to the quick, and caused his 
first angry message to the assembly. Before the 



1726.] KEITH AND FRAXKLIX. 169 

house replied, the new governor, Patrick Gordon, 
Esq., arrived, and Keith was superseded. Go- 
vernor Gookin, Keith's predecessor, in his last 
message to the legislature pleaded his personal 
wants. Keith had too much manliness to do 
this, and the house not gratitude enough to pro- 
vide for him without. So the connection, so long 
agreeable and courteous, terminated in coldness, 
if not in disgust. Probably an unwillingness 
to protract the difference with the proprietary 
family was the principal motive for this neglect 
of Keith, who certainly deserved well at the 
hands of the assembly. Franklin, by whose au- 
tobiography a very unpleasant idea of Keith's 
character is preserved, and who can be suspected 
of no partiality for the man, says he was a good 
governor for the people, though not for the pro- 
prietaries. He certainly differed from them in 
his views of policy, and did not always regard 
his instructions. But the general prosperity of 
the colony was never greater under any deputy- 
governor than under Governor Keith; and no 
administration was more quiet and effective. 

Benjamin Pranklin has given Sir William 
Keith a wider range of fame than any other pro- 
vincial governor possessed. The Boston printer 
boy arrived in Philadelphia in 1723 ; and a letter 
written by him falling under Keith's notice, the 
governor had discernment enough to discover his 
capacity, and friendship enough for him to desire 

15 



170 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726. 

to encourage it. A boy of seventeen years takes 
proffers of service and friendship very literally, 
and follows openings of business with pertinacious 
industry. Though the autobiography of Frank- 
lin would lead us to suppose that Keith wilfully 
sent him to London on a bootless errand, we 
must acquit Keith of any deliberate purpose to 
play such a "pitiful trick." No doubt, like 
many other men of plausible presence and easy 
humour, he promised more than he was always 
capable of performing, and shuffled when he 
should have been frank. He promised Frank- 
lin letters of credit in London which Franklin 
never received, and the young man sailed with 
the impression that the letters were on board. 
Whether Keith found that he had " no credit to 
give," and being ashamed to confess it, intended 
the lad should work his own wav ; or whether he 
forgot his promise in the hurry of his corre- 
spondence ; or did actually write letters which 
Franklin missed, are points which Franklin might 
himself have settled by writing back to Keith 
from London, or by demanding an explanation 
on his return to Philadelphia. As he did neither, 
we know nothing more of the acquaintance of 
Keith and Franklin, than that the former opened 
to young Franklin an episode in life which cer- 
tainly did him no harm, and laid the foundation 
of some useful acquaintances. 



1726.] HANNAH PENN'S LETTER. 171 



CHAPTER X. 

Answer of Hannah Penn to the assembly's remonstrance — 
Reflection upon Keith — Close of his hfe — Arrival of Governor 
Gordon — Quiet temper of the assembly — Affirmations — Salt 
tax aboUshed — Agent in England appointed — His useful- 
ness and efficiency — Franklin commences business in Phila- 
delphia — New emission of paper — Franklin's efforts to pro- 
mote it — Opposition of proprietaries — Franklin clerk of the 
house — Commencement of the Philadelphia Library — Indian 
treaty expenses — Land purchases — Lancaster county set 
off from Chester — Question of toleration of Roman Catho- 
lic worship — The court of chancery abolished — Arrival of 
Thomas and John Penn — 'An unlucky poet — Death of Go- 
vernor Gordon — Logan president — Boundary dispute with 
Maryland. 

Together with Governor Gordon came a very 
well- written letter of Hannah Penn in answer to 
the remonstrance of the house, addressed to the 
proprietary family, dm'ing the controversy with 
Keith. In this letter, the widow charged upon 
Keith the procuring of that remonstrance with 
a view to wresting the government out of the 
hands of the family of Penn. ^'^I do assure 
you," she wrote, "it is not easy for me to say 
whether for your safety or my own I am better 
pleased that this attempt upon the rights of the 
family and your privileges has proved unsuccess- 
ful ; and without saying any more of that piece 



172 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726. 

of management, I hope we shall all of us learn 
to cultivate and maintain so entire an agree- 
ment, and mutual good understanding, as may 
preserve us from ever becoming a prey to de- 
sio-ning men; who, it is evident, (notwithstanding 
their fair practices,) consider none of us in any 
other light than to serve their own ends and 
purposes, even though at the expense of all that 
is dear to us," She defended her instructions 
to Keith on the ground that they were in effect 
the same that had been given by her husband to 
all his deputies. The letter produced a sooth- 
ing eifect upon the public mind. 

Whether the charge alleged by Mrs. Penn 
against Keith was well founded or not, there is 
no doubt that Hannah Penn believed it; and 
Keith by his subsequent conduct proved that he 
was not incapable of entertaining such an inten- 
tion. He obtained a seat in the assembly, and 
endeavoured with all his address to embarrass 
the government. But as he talked out of the 
house, with a great deal of vanity, of his plans for 
subverting all the proprietary governments, and 
declared his intention of embarrassing the Penn 
family till they should sell to the crown, and he 
obtain a re-appointment, his own folly defeated 
his influence, and he returned to England poor 
and disappointed. Franklin, in his characteristic 
style, thus refers to the cbse of Keith's life:— 
i' There is no man long or much conversant in 



1726.] GOVERNOR GORDON. 173 

this overgrown city, [London,] who hath not 
often found himself in the company of the shades 
of departed governors, doomed to wander out the 
residue of their lives, full of the agonizing re- 
membrance of their past eminence, and the severe 
sensation of present neglect. Sir William Keith, 
upon his return, was added to this unfortunate 
list ; concerning whom the least that can be said 
is, that either none but men of fortune should be 
appointed to serve in such dignified offices, or 
otherwise that, for the honour of government 
itself, such as are recalled, without any noto- 
rious imputation on their conduct, should be 
preserved from that wretchedness and con- 
tempt which they have been but too frequently 
permitted to fall into for want even of a proper 
subsistence." 

Governor Gordon was well advanced in years 
when he arrived. He was discreet and peace- 
able ; and though some important questions arose 
during his administration, he managed to escape 
contention with the people and the council and 
proprietaries. Keith's administration was happy 
in its fruits for his successor. The very dis- 
turbance between him and the council ministered 
to peace ; for all the parties discovered that, being 
in a peculiar position, they were obliged to waive 
questions of abstract right and nice political dis- 
cussions for quiet's sake— just as sensible parties 
to any contract, finding themselves not so well 

15* 



174 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1726. 

fixed as they could desire, will adhere to a bar- 
gain, inconvenient in some respects, rather than 
risk all by throwing it up. Convinced of the 
good intentions of Penn to his colony, the people 
were fain to overlook the natural anxiety of the 
proprietors to guard their own interest, and were 
willing generally to concede that the proprietors 
and people had a common stake in the well-being 
of the province. The long-mooted question about 
affirmations was determined by an act passed 
in the province during the close of Keith's ad- 
ministration, and duly ratified in London. The 
privilege of importing salt duty free, enjoyed by 
other colonies, was conceded to Pennsylvania by 
Keith's instance; and the province, having no 
complaints to make, or privileges to ask, moved 
on quietly and in prosperity. The only dis- 
turbance was some Indian encounters near Co- 
nestoga, in which bloodshed occurred ; but further 
evil consequences' were for the present averted 
by treaty and presents. Some apprehensions 
were also entertained of French interference with 
the Western territory, it being discovered that 
visits were exchanged between the French and 
Shawanese Indians, French agents coming to the 
territory of Pennsylvania, and the visit being 
returned by an Indian deputation to Montreal. 
The authorities of the province were put on the 
alert by these discoveries, but nothing decisive 
was efiected. 



1727.] AGENT APPOINTED. 175 

The relations of the province with the royal 
government were, on the whole, satisfactory. 
Upon the accession of George II. in 1727, the 
proper congratulatory addresses were forwarded. 
An admission of the necessity of the late pro- 
prietary's (William Penn) continued residence in 
London, was made in the appointment of a resident 
agent in London. So much inconvenience had 
been suffered since the illness, and particularly 
since the death of Penn, by the want of a voice 
at court, that this arrangement seemed highly 
necessary. It proved very salutary and useful, 
and was continued down to the time of the Revo- 
lution. The agent was the special minister of 
the assembly, to whom he reported. The pro- 
prietaries took care of their own interests. 
Penn's sons had neither his intellect or enlarged 
views of policy; and though affection for the 
founder's person, and respect for his talents, 
prevented the thought of such a measure during 
his life, these considerations could not operate 
to such an extent in relation to his children. 
The first provincial agent was John Fernando 
Paris ; and his services were efficient and his 
movements discreet. In connection with the 
other colonial proprietors and agents, he suc- 
ceeded in averting a proposed order that all 
provincial laws should be inoperative until they 
had received the royal sanction. This order 
would have been detrimental in the highest de- 



176 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1729. 

gree to the interests of the colonies. In Penn- 
sylvania, as in other colonies, laws went into 
operation as soon as enacted. If the rojal as- 
sent was repressed, the law could be modified 
and re-enacted ; and thus, except in a few marked 
and especial cases, the royal revision was prac- 
tically inoperative. The English colonial policy 
was guided by the Board of Trade; and the 
worst burden of colonial dependence was found 
in the restriction of colonial industry, for the 
benefit of the English merchants and manufac- 
turers. 

Benjamin Franklin had now returned from 
his visit to London, and in 1725 commenced 
business as a printer in Philadelphia. In 1729 
he obtained possession of the Pennsylvania Ga- 
zette, a paper which had been unsuccessfully 
published a few months before it came into his 
hands. There had been another paper in the 
city for about ten years, and a printing press 
was in operation as early as 1686. It was 
principally reserved for Franklin, however, to 
show what efi'ects can be produced upon public 
opinion by the skilful periodical writer. - The 
Pennsylvania Gazette soon claimed attention ; 
and, as Franklin expresses it, ^' the leading men, 
seeing a newspaper now in the hands of those 
who could handle a pen, thought it convenient 
to oblige and encourage him." About this time 
the subject of an extension of the paper cur- 



1731.] PAPER CURRENCY. 177 

rency began to excite attention. The old issue 
had been, to a great extent, redeemed and can- 
celled, and the people felt the need of a more 
abundant circulating medium. Franklin was in 
favour of the measure ; and, to further it, wrote 
and printed a pamphlet on <' The Nature and 
Necessity of a Paper Currency." The pamphlet 
was well received, and the ''outside pressure" 
upon the assembly to procure the desired emis- 
sion was strengthened by it. The proprietary 
interest opposed the measure — prudently, as ex- 
perience has shown — and consented only on con- 
dition that an equivalent should be provided for 
the depreciation of their quit-rents by the de- 
preciation of the currency. The sum issued 
amounted to eighty thousand pounds, which re- 
mained in circulation, under successive acts, until 
1773, when the amount was largely increased. 
For Franklin's services in procuring the passage, 
he obtained the printing of the money. He was 
already printer to the house ; and in 17 36 was 
elected its clerk — a position which he made one 
of influence as well as profit. The Philadelphia 
Library, now one of the largest and best in the 
United States, dates from 1731, when its nucleus 
was formed by the deposit in one place, of such 
books as they could spare, by Franklin and his 
friends. The future statesman was then in his 
twenty-fifth year, and thus early he commenced 
his career of usefulness. 



178 HISTORY OP PENNSYLVANIA. [1732. 

During Governor Gordon's time, a question 
was raised which afterward became a frequent 
source of disputes between the proprietary go- 
vernors and the people. In the making of Indian 
treaties, and in keeping up pacific relations with 
the aborigines, large sums were required to be 
expended for presents. These charges were in- 
curred by the province, except such as Penn 
personally incurred. By an act of the assembly 
in 1700, all purchases of Indians, except such as 
were made by Penn or his heirs and grantees, 
were declared void, and the sole right to pur- 
chase was thus restricted to the proprietary 
family. The assembly made a distinction in 
1729 between the charges incurred in ordinary 
treaties and such as were made for the purchase 
of lands ; insisting that the party who had the 
monopoly of the purchase should bear the ex- 
penses. The value of the proprietary lands had 
now risen from the original price to between 
forty and fifty dollars for the hundred acres, 
subject to a quit-rent of one penny an acre. The 
increasing population, and the large size of the 
counties in 1732, caused the erection of Lan- 
caster county out of the western part of Chester. 

In 1732, by the death of Springett Penn, the 
heir-at-law, and Mrs. Hannah Penn, the assembly 
regarded Governor Gordon's authority closed; 
but the arrival of a new commission, signed by 
John, Thomas, and Richard Penn, prevented 



1732.] NEW COMMISSION. 179 

controversy on that subject. Controversy on no 
point appeared to be desired by him ; and except 
in such claims as he was supported by the pro- 
prietary interest against the assembly, he gene- 
rally yielded. He felt it his duty to call the 
attention of his council to the open celebration 
of mass at a chapel in Walnut street, contrary 
to the statute. His council were of opinion that 
the statute did not extend to the province, and 
advised the governor to consult his superiors in 
England. No further proceeding was had in the 
matter. The services of the Romish church were 
undoubtedly performed in the province much 
earlier, since Penn, in a letter to Logan, in 1708, 
says: "With these is a complaint against your 
government, that you suffer public mass in a 
scandalous manner ; pray send the matter of 
fact, for ill use is made of it against us here." 
Governor Gordon's notice of the matter was un- 
doubtely caused by the popular fears of Roman 
Catholics as sympathizing with the French, and 
with the Indians suspected of being in the 
French interest. The Walnut-street chapel, 
however, remained undisturbed. 

The new commission of Governor Gordon ex- 
pressly reserved to the crown the government 
of the territories now forming the State of Dela- 
ware. Another abridgment of the provincial 
governor's power took place in the abolition of 
the Court of Chancery. The assembly disco- 



180 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1734. 

vered that the possession of the powers of chan- 
cellor hy the governor was contrary to the 
charter. Pending the discussion Governor Gor- 
don died, and no subsequent governor took upon 
himself the office. 

In 1732 Thomas Penn, one of the proprieta- 
ries, came to his province. He was met at 
Chester by Governor Gordon with a large con- 
course of gentlemen, whose unexpected civility 
quite discomposed the visitor. He was received 
at Philadelphia with discharges of canon from 
the shipping and ringing of bells. Crowds paid 
their respects to him; and, among the rest, a 
worthy Welshman, who had prepared a compli- 
mentary address in verse, but so cold was his 
reception, that he withheld the poem. In de- 
scribing his interview, the poet says Thomas 
Penn spake but three sentences to him: ''How 
dost do ? — Farewell. — The other door !" A cool 
reception for an ambitious poet certainly — but 
the son had not the courtly ease of the father, 
and was undoubtedly more embarrassed by the 
crowd than they by him. Watson, who has 
preserved the anecdote, has in his possession the 
identical ''copy of verses." In 1734, John 
Penn, "the American," came over, and was 
similarly received. His return to Europe was 
hastened by the intelligence that Lord Balti- 
more was making interest to obtain the territo- 
ries on the Delaware. 



1736.] BOUNDARY DISPUTES. 181 

The administration of Governor Gordon was 
terminated by his death in 1736. The admi- 
nistration of the' government devolved on the 
council, of which Logan was president, and it 
remained in his hands two years. As the charter 
vested the legislative power in the governor and 
assembly, in the absence of a governor there 
could be no legislation. With wise policy, to 
avoid jealousy, the assembly regularly met to 
advise the government, but enacted no laws. Ex- 
cept a few skirmishes between the sheriffs of Lan- 
caster and Baltimore county, Maryland, and cer- 
tain armed bands of volunteers, nothing of note 
occurred during Logan's administration. Settlers 
were harassed, blood was shed, captures were 
made, jails forced, and other illegal and foolish 
proceedings took place under nominal legal au- 
thority. A pause was put to these breaches of 
the peace by the arrival of an order of the king 
in council, requiring the respective governments 
to suppress disturbances, and refrain from grant- 
ing the lands in dispute till the king's pleasure 
should be further known. Difficulties still con- 
tinued, however, till the proprietaries made a 
compromise, in London, by which the contest of 
subordinates was abandoned without prejudice 
to the claims of their superiors. The result of 
this controversy has been anticipated in a pre- 
vious chapter of this work. 

16 



182 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1739. 



CHAPTER XL 

Governor Thomas — His attempts to induce the assembly to 
make warlike preparations — Declaration of war between 
England and Spain — Instructions from England — The as- 
sembly frames a supply-bill, but adjourns without passing it 
— Enlistment of bond-servants — Disputes upon this subject 
— Refusal of the house to vote money until the servants 
were discharged — Thomas Penn supports the governor — 
The merchants of Philadelphia and the council remonstrate 
with the assembly — The money bill passes, with conditions 
— The governor declines to avail himself of it — Th^ house 
applies the money to the payment of masters who had lost 
their servants — Governor Thomas demands the equipment 
of arm.ed vessels — The house refuses it — Thomas Penn re- 
turns to England — Quarrel about the appointment of a port 
physician — Governor Thomas sweeps his opponents from 
office — Election riot — Compromise between the governor 
and the assembly — Franklin's public services — Volunteer 
military preparations — Kesignation of Governor Thomas. 

George Thomas, Esq., a planter of Antigua, 
was appointed governor of Pennsylvania in 1727. 
He had an unfortunate propensity for disputes, 
and a confidence in his controversial abilities, 
which led him into positions of contest with the 
assembly which he might readily, with a little 
prudence, have avoided. A disagreement between 
England and Spain, which commenced in 1737, 
ripened into open hostilities in 1739. While this 



1740.] - GOVERNOR THOMAS. 183 

probability of Tvar "vvas impending, Governor 
Thomas endeavoured to induce the assembly, 
principally composed of Quakers, to take mea- 
sures for the defence of the colony. The assem- 
bly declined to pass any laws for the establish- 
ment of a military service, and referred the 
governor to his own authority, as deputy of the 
captain-general, to organize the forces of the 
country from such citizens as were disposed to 
fight. Instead of availing himself of this intima- 
tion. Governor Thomas entered into a war of 
words with the assembly, during which the 
public business was neglected, and what was 
immediately irksome to the governor, his sup- 
port was withheld. 

This state of affairs continued till official news 
of the declaration of war was received, in 1740, 
together with instructions from the throne which 
left enlistment for the service voluntary in Penn- 
sylvania, but required that the province should 
furnish transports and stores for the troops to 
be raised in the province, until they arrived at 
the place of rendezvous in the West Indies. The 
assembly pleaded their consciences against raising 
money for such a purpose, and Governor Thomas 
renewed the request in a different form, leaving 
the use of the money undesignated, otherwise 
than "for the king's use." The assembly framed 
a bill for granting a sum of money, but adjourn- 
ed before it was acted upon. Rumours of peace 



184 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA". [1740. 

induced them to hope that by delay they might 
avoid the difficulty. 

Enlistments of volunteers went on under the 
governor's exertions with great alacrity, and the 
quota expected from Pennsylvania, (four hun- 
dred men,) was largely exceeded. This was in 
part accounted for by the fact that many bond- 
servants chose the cover of enlistment to escape 
the fulfilment of their contracts with their mas- 
ters. The troops were ready, but the provisions 
and transports were not provided. Governor 
Thomas summoned the assembly by a peremp- 
tory writ, and commanded that they should pro- 
ceed with their appropriation bill. The house 
refused to grant any money till the servants 
already enlisted were returned to their masters 
without any charge, and assurance given that no 
more should be enlisted. The house also de- 
clared as a cause of their inability to appropriate 
large sums, the demands upon the treasury for 
the equalization of quit-rents. Thomas Penn 
immediately came forward, and in behalf of the 
proprietaries postponed their claim till provision 
should be made for the public service. The 
house then abandoned this o-round, and admittinir 
their ability, refused to make any appropriation 
till their grievance in the matter of the servants 
was redressed. They threatened to apply to the 
throne for relief, and requested Mr. Penn to use 
his influence with the governor to prevent the 



17-iO.] SUPPLIES REFUSED. 185 

necessity for such on appeal. But Mr. Penn 
avowed his entire approval of the course the 
governor had taken, and reproved the reluctance 
of the house to assist the king and the nation, 
when they had been invited in so considerate a 
form to do it. A deputation of merchants and 
other inhabitants of Philadelphia waited on the 
assembly to remonstrate with that body for their 
neglect of the public service. Four of the coun- 
cil appealed to them, entreating them to weigh 
the consequences of their conduct. Thus be- 
leaguered on all hands, the assembly made an 
appropriation of money, but coupled it with the 
condition that the warrant for it should not be 
drawn till the servants were discharged. The 
governor would not accept of the appropriation 
clo^rsied with such conditions, but raised the ne- 

CO ' 

cessary funds by the sale of bills on England. 
The house, at its next session, applied the money 
which they had conditionally appropriated to 
the king's use, to the payment of masters who 
had lost their bond-servants by enlistment. 

Having failed to obtain enactments for the 
support of the army, Governor Thomas next 
called upon the assembly to equip vessels of war 
to protect the colonial commerce against priva- 
teers, to grant a bounty for every enemy killed 
or captured, and to provide for the families of 
the seamen killed or wounded in the service. 
The message appeared to be studiedly offensive. 



186 HISTORY or PENNSYLVANIA. [1740. 

The merchants backed it with another remon- 
strance, threatening that if measures were not 
taken for the defence of the colony, they would 
apply to the crown. The house refused the go- 
vernor's application, and declared the merchants 
remonstrance an insult and a breach of privilege. 
Governor Thomas had forbidden, by proclama- 
tion, the export of provisions from the colony to 
any except British ports, in order to prevent the 
supply of the enemy. An act of Parliament to 
the same purport was passed almost at the same 
time. Governor Thomas asked of the assembly 
the passage of a bill forbidding the export of 
wheat entirely. The house refused his applica- 
tion, and intimated that the act of Parliament 
alone protected him from inquiry into the lega- 
lity of his proclamation. 

The governor and assembly had now reached 
a most unhappy state of contention and exaspe- 
ration. The assembly representing the Quaker 
interest, could no longer appeal to the proprie- 
tary. William Penn's sons were not Quakers, 
and Thomas Penn had avowedly sided with the 
governor. When he left the colony to return to 
Europe in 1740, the assembly presented him an 
affectionate and conciliatory address, soliciting 
his residence among them, or that of some other 
of the proprietaries, as a check upon the go- 
vernor. He answered them in like polite terms, 
but recommended them to take measures for the 



1741.] DISPUTES WITH ASSEMBLY. 187 

defence of the province, in which thej would re- 
ceive the aid of the governor, who he said had 
no views but the king's honour and the safety 
of their constituents. Even James Logan openly 
declared himself in favour of defensive war ; a 
position to which he had discovered an inclina- 
tion so long before as in the time of Governor 
Evans and his false alarm. 

In 1741, the old members being still returned 
to the house, the governor took occasion, when 
the speaker was presented to him, according to 
the form of those days, for approval, to reproach 
him for the former acts of the assembly. The 
assembly retorted by passing resolutions that the 
governor's reception of the speaker was unpar- 
liamentary, menacing, and destructive of the 
freedom of the legislature. But anxious to se- 
cure friends somewhere, and to avert the conse- 
quences of their continual refusal to provide for 
the public defence at Governor Thomas's sug- 
gestions, the assembly appropriated, and paid 
over through their agent in London, three thou- 
sand pounds into the royal exchequer. A pitiful 
contention between the governor and the legis- 
lature about the appointment of a port-physician, 
left the post vacant, and the landing of diseased 
emigrants in the city, through this neglect, 
caused the outbreak of a contagious distemper, 
accompanied with great mortality. This calamity 
furnished the parties with new charges, each im- 



188 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1741. 

puting to the other the cause of the distress. 
But the house was compelled to provide for a 
lazaretto, a measure which had before been re- 
commended and urged by Governor Thomas, but 
evaded. 

New fuel was added to the flame by the trans- 
mission to Philadelphia, by the provincial agent, 
of copies of the governor's correspondence with 
the ministry, in which he painted the conduct 
of the assembly in the darkest colours, and re- 
presented that nothing in the way of public 
defence was to be hoped while the Quakers con- 
stituted the majority of the assembly, with the 
control of the public money and the right to 
adjourn at pleasure. This control the assembly 
had acquired by a clause in the currency and 
excise bills, the effect of which had escaped the 
notice of the governor. The house could dispose 
of the public funds by resolution, and were thus 
enabled, as we have seen, to remit money direct 
to England, and to pay masters for the time of 
their enlisted servants without asking the go- 
vernor's approval. Indeed, he was entirely ex- 
cluded from this important part of legislature. 

The messages of the governor and the replies 
of the house ceased to be any thing but heated 
appeals to the people, and the means of mutual 
exasperation. No law had been sanctioned by 
the governor, and no provision made for his sup- 
port by the assembly, since the refusal of the 



1742.] ELECTION RIOT. 189 

house to supply funds for the transport of the 
troops. The governor's arrears of salary 
amounted to fifteen hundred pounds. He now 
resorted to the means of annoyance which he 
possessed in the power of appointment ; and he 
removed from office all who were opposed to 
him whose commissions were in his gift. This 
exercise of power was not new in Pennsylvania, 
having been executed by the founder himself. 
The assembly had suffered the provision <' during 
good behaviour," to be construed to mean du- 
ring the executive pleasure, and could not now 
set aside the precedents. Governor Thomas's 
i' sweep" was the first thorough one in the his- 
tory of Pennsylvania, and unquestionably weak- 
ened himself more than it injured his opponents. 
The year 1742 was distinguished by an election 
riot, the first in the colony. The strength of 
the Quakers was in the counties, while the go- 
vernor's or ^'gentlemen's party" wa;s chiefly in 
the city. The votes of the whole county of 
Philadelphia were polled at the court-house, 
which then stood in Market street. Early on 
the morning of the election-day, a party of sailors 
from the vessels paraded through the streets in a 
riotous manner. Many of the inhabitants, ap- 
prehensive of disturbance, appealed to the ma- 
gistrates, but their advice that precautions should 
be taken were not heeded. When the election 
opened, the sailors marched up to the polls, and 



190 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1742. 

assaulting certain of the freeholders with bludg- 
eons, so exasperated the people, that they made 
a rally and drove the sailors to their ships, cap- 
turing and committing some fifty. The disturb- 
ance appears to have been " in advance of the 
age," and to have been attended with all the 
^features of a more modern election riot, not even 
excepting an inquiry into the case with no result. 
The country j)arty succeeded in electing their 
candidates, and in fastening the credit of the 
riot upon the gentleman's party as its instigators. 
At this session the contest between the go- 
vernor and the assembly terminated. The go- 
vernor made overtures at reconciliation, and 
sanctioned the bills which had so long awaited 
his signature; and the assembly paid up the 
arrears of his salary. So far in the contest the 
assembly had undoubtedly been victorious, and 
it was no more renewed. The governor carried 
on war preparations, whenever .necessary, by his 
authority as deputy captain-general and go- 
vernor, and the house left him in those respects 
unmolested. The governor made no more de- 
mands for money for war purposes, and the 
assembly voted him, whenever necessary, "a sura 
of money for the king's use, to demonstrate their 
loj^alty and affection to the crown." One ap- 
propriation was made of four thousand pounds, 
''to be expended in the purchase of bread, beef, 
pork, flour, wheat or otlter grains Under the' 



1745.] DEFENSIVE MEASURES. 191 

head "other grain," Governor Thomas purchased 
gunpowder, and the assembly never accused him 
of misappropriating the mone3\ 

The declaration of war against France in 
1740 caused a new military activity among the 
friends of the governor in Pennsylvania. Frank- 
lin came to his aid, with his pen and his personal 
influence ; and steps were taken for the military 
defence of the colony, without identifying the 
legislature with the movement. The governor's 
proclamation and the voluntary measures of the 
people were sufficient. A regiment was raised in 
Philadelphia, of which the command was offered 
to Franklin, but declined b}^ him. A battery 
was erected with funds raised by lottery, in 
which many persons w^ere adventurers who, op- 
posed to war on principle, still considered defen- 
sive measures necessary. Indian disturbances 
added to the public alarm, but fortunately were 
suppressed by the exhibition of a sufficient force, 
or were checked by treaties and presents. Penn- 
sylvania furnished four companies, which were 
sent to Albany for the defence of the northern 
frontier against the Indians who were in the 
French interest. She also furnished four thou- 
sand pounds to the king's use, which money was 
employed in aid of the colonial expedition against 
Louisburg, the capital of Cape Breton, which 
post was taken in 1745 by the colonial troops 



192 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1746. 

under Sir William Pepperel, aided by the British 
fleet under Sir Peter Warren. 

In May, 1746, Governor Thomas communi- 
cated to the legislature his intention to resign, 
on account of ill health. During the latter years 
of his term of ofiice he had obtained the confi- 
dence of the legislature and the esteem of the 
people, having learned at last how to deal with 
the men he had to govern. 



CHAPTER XXL 

Exposed condition of the Delaware River — Arrival of Governor 
Hamilton — The " Indian walk." — Penn's method of measur- 
ing land by pacing it — Movements of speculators — Exaspe- 
ration of Indians — Production of old treaties — Speculative 
mode of pacing boundaries — The Indians remonstrate — Com- 
pelled to submit by more powerful tribes — Evil results — 
French intrigues — Disputes between the governor and the 
legislature — Franklin a member of the House — George 
Washington — Expedition against Fort Duquesne — Capitu- 
lation of the Virginians to the French — Governor Hamilton 

■ appeals to the assembly for supplies — Evasion of his request 
— Governor Hamilton superseded by Governor Morris — 
Conference with the Six Nations at Albany — Indian opinions 
of the English and French — Unfortunate purchase by the 
Pennsylvania commissioners — Franklin's plan of union 
between the provinces — His account of Governor Morris — 
The Pennsylvania Hospital — James Logan — Reform of 
Calendar — Restrictions on manufactures — Navigation Acts 
— Illiberal policy of the Board of Trade — Philadelphia ship 
building — Norh-West passage. 

The executive branch of the government de- 
volved upon the council by Governor Thomas's 



1749.] i-TIIE INDIAN WALK." 193 

resignation ; but as the council possessed no 
legislative powers, no laws could be enacted and 
Anthony Palmer, president of the council, and 
acting governor, made vain appeals to the legis- 
lature to adopt defensive measures against the 
enemy. Privateers ascended the river, took 
many vessels, and landed and plundered the in- 
habitants, menacing even the city itself. The 
assembly declined to fit out a sloop-of-war ; and 
when the council would have done it, their credit 
was not sufficient to borrow the requisite money. 
This anomalous position of affairs was in some 
degree relieved in 1749, in the autumn of which 
year James Hamilton arrived from London, 
bearing the commission of lieutenant-governor. 

Indian difficulties began now to be a serious 
source of trouble to the government and to the 
people. After the decease of William Penn there 
was no one to keep up the wise, humane, and 
politic course which he had pursued with the 
aborigines. Complaints grew frequent, and a 
feeling that they had been wronged increased 
among the Indians, fostered and aggravated no 
doubt by the acts of enemies. Nor were these 
complaints without foundation. There was one 
transaction in particular, which holds its place in 
tradition as '' The Indian Walk," and is suffi- 
ciently curious in its details and important in 
its consequences to claim a place in history. 

In 1686, by a treaty made with the Delaware 

17 



194 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1749. 

Indians, William Penn purchased a tract of land 
on the Delaware, one of the boundaries of which 
was described thus, '' as far as a man could walk 
in three days." Tradition says that William 
Penn himself and a number of his friends began 
to walk out the boundary, and in a day and a 
half walked about thirty miles, taking the journey 
leisurely, and occasionally sitting down to refresh 
themselves with a luncheon and a bottle of wine. 
Having thus traced out as much as he desired 
for his present purpose, and established the land- 
marks, Penn suffered the remainder to rest un- 
surveyed, leaving one day and a half to be walked 
at some future period. In 1718 a treaty was 
made with the Indians on which these vague 
boundaries were set aside, and the Lehigh Hills 
were made the extreme boundary of the white 
settlement. In 1733 some gentlemen, specu- 
lators in lands, purchased of William Penn, the 
grandson of the founder, ten thousand acres of 
land which had been devised to him by his grand- 
father. A portion of this land the purchasers 
chose should be taken up in " The Forks of the 
Delaware," as the tract was called which lies 
between the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, south 
of the Blue Mountain. 

The Indian title to this land had never been 
extinguished; but the speculators who had pur- 
chased of the proprietor's heir, commenced im- 
mediately to sell in smaller tracts to those who 



1749.] OLD TREATIES PRODUCED. 195 

would immediately settle their purchases. And 
at the same time the proprietors issued proposals 
for the sale of one hundred thousand acres by a 
lottery, the fortunate holders of tickets having 
the privilege of settling anywhere, except on 
lands already settled or purchased by whites. 
The tract above mentioned, "The Forks of the 
Delaware," being good land, many tracts were 
taken up there and settled. 

The Indians were exasperated, as they natu- 
rally might be, by these proceedings. These 
grounds, including one or more Indian towns, 
were sold from under them, notwithstanding the 
the treaty of 1718, already mentioned, which 
defined the boundaries of the white settlements. 
To stay their murmurs, Thomas Penn purchased 
of the Indians the tract now included in Berks 
county, though these lands might have been 
claimed by him, under a treaty granting to Penn 
as much land as could be crossed "in two days 
upon a horse." But the parties interested in the 
lands on the Delaware were determined to have 
them without a repurchase — or it might be more 
properly said without a fair extinguishment of 
the Indian titles. The Delaware chiefs were 
summoned ; the old deed, or a copy, was produced, 
in which the tract was described, and as one of 
its boundaries the "three days' walk" was men- 
tioned. This old bargain was reaffirmed " with 
full and free consent," and all right to the tract 



196 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1749. 

relinquished bj the Indians through their sa- 
chems. 

The proprietors immediately advertised that 
the remainder of the walk, ''a day and a half" 
was to be made, and offered five hundred acres 
of land, and five pounds in money, to the person 
who should attend and walk the farthest in the 
given time. By previous agreement the governor 
was to select three persons, and the Indians a 
like number. But the Indians soon discovered 
that they were no longer dealing with William 
Penn. The walkers were accompanied by horse- 
men, with liquors and other refreshments, and, 
the road having been previously travelled, food 
was placed at different points along the road. 
On the first day one of the whites was tired out 
and fell, and the Indians before sunset left and 
refused to countenance the proceeding further. 
They said the walkers would pass all the good 
land, and they did not care where or how far 
they went. There was no stopping to rest. On 
the second day, at noon, one of the walkers 
reached a point about sixty-five or seventy miles 
from the starting-place— at least twice as far as 
a fair walk would have carried him. The In- 
dians declared they were cheated: <' No sit 
down to smoke— no shoot a squirrel,— but lun, 
lun all day long !" 

They were overreached, and refused to abide 
by their bargain— a bargain which had been 



1749.] FRENCH INTRIGUES. 19T 

literally enforced, but in justice violated. ^ They 
refused to move, and did not give up their land 
till the '^Six Nations, their conquerors, were ap- 
pealed to. The powerful chiefs contemptuously 
ordered the poor Delawares off, and the Indians 
were forced to comply, carrying their exaspe- 
rated feeling to Wyoming, to Shamokin, and to 
Ohio. Thus were they predisposed to listen to 
the overtures of the French; and a departure 
from Penn's conciliatory and upright course 
caused bloodshed and rapine which honesty and 
fair dealing would have prevented. We have 
been thus particular in this narrative, because it 
is only justice that Penn's memory should be 
vindicated. 

Governor Hamilton found these difficulties 
with the Indians, provoked by new aggressions 
of the whites, a fruitful source of trouble, as 
they had been to the council before him. Set- 
tlers encroached on Indian lands without even 
the poor excuse of proprietary grants. The go- 
vernment of the colony, alarmed by Indian 
menaces and Indian violence, sent a commission 
to the Indian country, where the intruders had 
settled, with authority to dispossess them. This 
was done ; but the encroachments were soon re- 
newed, and furnished new arguments for the 
French to employ in their negotiations with the 
Indians against the English. Presents and 
subsidies were tried to countervail French in- 



17* 



198 HISTORY OP PENNSYLVANIA. [1750. 

trigue, and the appetite of the savages, which 
<'grew by what it fed on," made this branch of 
the service a heavy charge upon the public trea- 
sury. And now arose a renewal of the dispute 
with the proprietors, and the governor as their 
representative, upon the subject of these Indian 
expenses, which the Penn family were disposed 
to throw entirely upon the province. The ad- 
dresses and arguments on the part of the assembly 
were drawn up with new ability and with caustic 
wit. In 1750, Benjamin Franklin, who had been 
for several years clerk of the house, was elected 
a member ; and he took at once the lead to which 
his talents entitled him. It was not as an orator 
but as a writer that he made himself felt. He 
was on every important committee ; sCnd the re- 
ports, addresses, and other documents from his 
pen display a vigour and ability which make 
them readable even at this day. It is the for- 
tune of few legislative reports to survive the 
occasions which call them out. Franklin's have 
this vitality. 

Another subject of discussion was the increase 
of the paper currency, to keep pace with the in- 
creased trade of Pennsylvania. Though the 
colonies had been prohibited by an act of Parlia- 
ment, from issuing bills to serve as currency, 
Pennsylvania was excepted from its operation. 
Taking advantage of this privilege, procured for 
them by their agents and the proprietaries, a 



1754.] EXPEDITION AGAINST DUQUESNE. 199 

bill was prepared in 1752 for the issue of forty 
thousand pounds. Nothing was issued, however, 
but the gubernatorial messages, and legislative 
reports and remonstrances. Of the latter Frank- 
lin was the principal author. There were various 
points in dispute between the parties in this con- 
troversy ; but the real difficulty appears to have 
been that the governor wanted what the house 
refused to concede, a joint voice in the disposal 
of the interest of the emission, which interest 
formed part of the revenue of the province. 
"While the dispute was pending, Indian difficulties 
and a quasi war with France still continued in 
the colonies. 

In 1753 first appears upon the annals of Ame- 
rican warfare the name of George Washington. 
In that year, having barely attained his majority, 
he was deputed by Governor Dinwiddie, of Vir- 
ginia, as an envoy to the French, who were en- 
croaching upon Virginia and Pennsylvania on 
the west, and preparing measures to unite Ca- 
nada and Louisiana by a chain of military and 
trading posts. This difficult duty he performed 
in the winter of 1753-4, and the result of his 
mission proved that the French were not dis- 
posed to yield their pretensions. A regiment 
was despatched early in the .spring of 1754, 
under command of Colonel Fry and Lieutenant- 
Colonel George Washington. In command of 
an advanced force, Lieutenant-Colonel Washing- 



200 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1754. 

ton surprised a party of French who were march- 
ing to the confluence of the Monongahela and 
Alleghany Rivers, where a fort was in progress 
of erection, called Fort Duquesne. In his jour- 
ney during the preceding autumn. Colonel Wash- 
ington had marked the commanding advantages 
of this place, afterward Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg. 
By the death of Colonel Fry the whole com- 
mand devolved upon Washington ; and having 
commenced the erection of a stockade at Great 
Meadows, which he called Fort Necessity, he 
pressed forward with the intention of dislodging 
the French from Fort Duquesne. But ascertain- 
ing that the enemy were in much greater force 
than himself, he fell back to Fort Necessity. 
His command consisted of about five hundred 
men. He was attacked in Fort Necessity by 
fifteen hundred, under command of Monsieur de 
Yillier. From ten in the forenoon till night the 
gallant little garrison withstood the attack. 
Monsieur de Yillier then demanded a parley, 
and offered terms of capitulation. These were 
at first rejected; but during the night a conven- 
tion was agreed upon, under which Colonel 
Washington and his command were permitted to 
retain their arms and retire to the inhabited 
parts of Virginia. These operations were not 
conducted under the sanction of any formal de- 
claration of war against France, but in pursu- 



1754.] ASSEMBLY REFUS? SUPPLIES. 201 

ance of instructions received by the provincial 
governors to repel force by force. 

In pursuance of the instructions of the Bri- 
tish government, Governor Hamilton had endea- 
voured, but in vain, to obtain funds from the 
assembly to organize a force to assist Governor 
Dinwiddie. The assembly evaded, and demanded 
proof that the points which the French had 
seized were within their limits. A committee 
of the house reported that the alleged fact rested 
on the testimony of Indian traders unskilled in 
mensuration. The house would not ''presume 
to set bounds to his majesty's dominions or to 
ascertain the limits of their own province," and 
resolved that it did not clearly appear that the 
subjects of a foreign prince had erected forts 
within the undoubted limits of the government. 
They accused the governor of imprudence in 
declaring the province to be invaded, thereby 
changing their relation with Virginia, and 
making them principals instead of auxiliaries in 
the dispute. We may her^ remark, that the 
tract at the confluence of the Monongahela and 
Alleghany, about which the English and French 
were in dispute, which dispute soon ripened from 
an informal into formal war, was also disputed 
between Virginia and Pennsylvania. The mat- 
ter was not settled until about twenty years 
afterward ; and the land which the assembly of 
1753 repudiated, because its possession would 



202 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1754. 

make them "principals instead of auxiliaries," 
succeeding state governments contended for till 
the present boundaries were formally established. 
And this tract is now one of the most important 
in the state, the centre of its western capital 
and population. 

On the news of Colonel Washington's capitu- 
lation, which took place on the 3d of July, Go- 
vernor Hamilton again convened the assembly. 
But the pertinacity of the governor and the as- 
sembly, in their dispute about the terms of the 
money bill, rendered all attempts to raise money 
abortive. Governor Hamilton, whose term of 
oflBce was about to expire by his resignation, 
gladly relinquished the dispute with the legisla- 
ture to his successor, Robert Hunter Morris, who 
arrived in Pennsylvania early in October, 1754. 

On the soil of Pennsylvania were first dis- 
played the military abilities of the man who, as 
commander of the army of the United States, 
afterward bore a principal part in the establish- 
ment of their freedom. A Pennsylvania legis- 
lator devised this year the outlines of the future 
articles of confederation between the colonies. 
At a congress of commissioners, assembled in 
Albany at the instance of the Board of Trade, 
Franklin was present as one of the deputation 
from Pennsylvania. The object of the congress 
was to treat with the chiefs of the Six Nations, 
and win them back to their friendship for the 



1754.] SPEECH OF HENDRICK. 203 

English. Little was effected in their regard by 
the council. The Indians received their pre- 
sents, five hundred pounds toward the purchase 
of which were furnished by Pennsylvania, with 
true Indian avidity. But few Indians were pre- 
sent, and they refused to form a new treaty of 
coalition against the French, though they pro- 
mised to drive the French from their lands and 
to renew their old treaties with the English. Of 
the temper of the Indians, and their sentiments 
toward the contending European powers, the 
following extract from the speech of the Mo- 
hawk sachem, Hendrick,* may serve as a speci- 
men : " It is your fault, brethren, that we are 
not strengthened by conquest. We would have 
gone and taken Crown Point, but you hindered 
us. We had concluded to go and take it, but 
were told it was too late, and that the ice would 
not bear us. Instead of this, you burnt your 
own fort at Saratoga, and ran away, which was 
a shame and a scandal. Look around your 
country and see; you have no fortifications about 
you; no, not even to this city. It is but one 
step to Canada, brother, and the French may 
easily come and turn you out of doors. You 
were desirous that we should open our minds and 
our hearts to you. Look at the French. They 
are men. They are fortifying everywhere. But, 

• Sparks' Works of Franklin. 



204 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1754. 

we are ashamed to say it, you are all like women, 
bare and open, without any fortifications." In a 
dispute between two powers, both indifferent to 
them — both indeed obnoxious — it was to be sup- 
posed that Indian sympathy would be with those 
the savages considered stronger and more manly. 
While little was done by the confederated council, 
the Pennsylvanians accomplished something on 
their own account, which the event proved had 
been better left undone. They purchased of the 
heads of the tribes the nominal extinction of 
most of the Indian titles remaining in Pennsyl- 
vania. This gave great dissatisfaction to the 
Indians, and probably neutralized whatever good 
might have been accomplished by the council. 

But while the immediate business of the con- 
gress was discussed — the Indian relations of the 
colonies — another subject of much more ultimate 
importance went on with it. On his way to the 
congress, Franklin drew up a plan of union for 
mutual defence. Several other members had 
done the same thing — and these plans were re- 
ferred to a committee. "Mine," says Franklin, 
<' happened to be preferred, and, with a few 
amendments, was accordingly reported." It 
provided for a president-general, to be appointed 
by the crown, and a grand council, chosen by 
the legislatures of the colonies, the president 
having also executive power. The general busi- 
ness of the colonies, principally in their Indian 



1754.] GOVERNOR MORRIS. 205 

relations — which were the only foreign relations 
within their power — were to be regulated by this 
council ; the domestic aiFairs of the several colo- 
nies were to be left to each. Thus was the grand 
principle of the present Union, State Rights and 
confederate strength, laid down in July, 1754, by 
Benjamin Franklin. It was rejected by the 
crown as too democratic and by the provinces as 
having in it too much prerogative — a sure evi- 
dence of its impartiality. Twenty-one years 
afterward, having often urged the necessity of 
union, he was the first to propose it in the Con- 
tinental Congress — even before the independence 
of the States was declared. How little did these 
two men, Washington and Franklin, in July, 
1754, suspect what parts they should be called 
to perform in July 1776. 

Governor Morris soon found himself in diffi- 
culty with the assembly, notwithstanding a piece 
of good advice which he received from Franklin, 
and which he promised to follow, but disregarded 
or forgot. While Franklin was on a journey to 
Boston he met the new governor, with whom he 
had been before intimately acquainted. A short 
extract from Franklin's autobiography will give 
in brief a summary of Governor Morris's diffi- 
culties with the assembly. '' He (Mr. IMorris) 
brought a commission to supersede Mr. Hamil- 
ton, who, tired with the disputes his proprietary 
instructions subjected him to, had resigned. Mr. 

18 



206 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1754. 

Morris asked me if I thought he must expect as 
uncomfortable an administration. I said, < No ; 
you may on the contrary have a very comfortable 
one, if you will only take care not to enter into 
any dispute with the assembly.' <My dear 
friend,' said he, pleasantly, 'how can you advise 
my avoiding disputes ? You know I love dis- 
puting, it is one of my greatest pleasures ; how- 
ever, to show the regard I have for your counsels, 
I will, if possible, avoid them.' He had some 
reason for loving to dispute, being eloquent, an 
acute sophister, and therefore generally success- 
ful in argumentative conversation. He had been 
brought up to it from a boy, his father, as I have 
heard, accustoming his children to dispute with 
one another for his diversion, while setting at 
table, after dinner ; but I think the practice Avas 
not wise, for, in the course of my observation, 
those disputing, contradicting and confuting peo- 
ple are generally unfortunate in their affairs. 
They get victory sometimes, but they never get 
good-will, which would be of more use to them. 
We parted, he going to Philadelphia, and I to 
Boston. 

" In returning, I met at New York with the 
votes of the assembly of Pennsylvania, by which 
it appeared, that, notwithstanding his promise to 
me, he and the house were already in high con- 
tention ; and it was a continual battle between 
them as long as he retained the government. I 



1751.] PENNSYLVANIA HOSPITAL. 207 

had my share of it ; for, as soon as I got back 
to my seat in the assembly, I was put on every 
committee for answering his speeches and mes- 
sages, and by the committees always desired to 
make the drafts. Our answers, as well as his 
messages, were often tart and sometimes inde- 
cently abusive ; and as he knew I wrote for the 
assembly, one might have imagined that when 
we met we could hardly avoid cutting throats. 
But he was so goodnatured a man, that no per- 
sonal difference between me and him was occa- 
sioned by the contest. * * * These public quar- 
rels were all at bottom owing to the proprietaries, 
our hereditary governors, who, when an expense 
was to be incurred for the defence of their pro- 
vince, with incredible meanness, instructed their 
deputies to pass no act for laying the necessary 
taxes unless their vast estates were in the same 
act expressly exonerated; and they had even 
taken the bonds of these deputies to observe 
such instructions." 

Before we enter upon the stormy period of 
Governor Morris's administration, some facts 
may be recorded which we have reserved to this 
place not to interrupt the current narrative of 
public events. In 1751 the Pennsylvania Hos- 
pital was founded, principally through the public 
spirit of Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Frank- 
lin. The latter procured the passage of a bill 
through the legislature granting two thousand 



208 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1754. 

pounds conditioned on the citizens subscribing 
a like sum. A lot was purchased in 1754 on the 
present site, and the whole square between 
Spruce and Pine and Eighth and Ninth streets 
was afterward given to the institution by the 
proprietaries. The original design was a lunatic 
asylum, and it afterward took the present more 
comprehensive character. It is abundantly fur- 
nished, and has always been well managed. The 
celebrated picture by "West, Christ Healing the 
Sick, was presented to the institution by the 
artist, and the revenue arising from its exhibi- 
tion is applied to the uses of the hospital. 

In October, 1751, died James Logan, whose 
name occupies a prominent place in the early 
annals of Pennsylvania. For tAYenty years be- 
fore his death he had lived in retirement from 
public office, though frequently consulted, espe- 
cially upon Indian affairs. Down to the last the 
Indians retained their respect and affection for 
him ; and the celebrated Indian chief Logan was 
so named by his father in honour of Logan, the 
friend of Penn, and the friend of the Indian. 
When the first declaration of war against the 
Indians was made in Pennsylvania, William Lo- 
gan, inheriting his father's kindness to the race, 
withheld his vote, though the only one in the 
council who did so. James Logan would have 
been celebrated as a man of letters if he had 
not been so prominent in public life. The Lo- 



1754.] RESTRICTION ON MANUFACTURES. 209 l^ 

ganian Library, now incorporated with the 
Philadelphia Library, was among his bequests to 
Philadelphia, together with a house and thirty 
pounds per annum for its increase. The col- 
lection, at the death of the donor, amounted to 
nearly three thousand volumes. At the time of 
his death he was seventy-seven years old, and 
had passed over fifty years of his life in Penn- 
sylvania. He was the patron of arts and Htera- 
ture, and respected for his virtues as well as 
admired for his talents ; he outlived the tempo- 
rary clouds under which his attachment to the 
Penn family had caused him to pass in the popu- 
lar estimation. 

In 1751 the English Parliament passed an 
act reforming the calendar, and commencing 
the year in January instead of in March, as 
previously. The assembly of Pennsylvania fol- 
lowed it by an act '' to prevent disputes about 
conveyances," making valid all instruments 
dated as of the months in their numerical order, 
being the revival of an act under the new style 
which had been passed under the old. 

The selfish policy of the home government in 
regard to the industry of her colonies was exhi- 
bited from the beginning. In 1700 these mea- 
sures took the form of law, and an act of Par- 
liament prohibited the transport of domestic 
woollens from one colony to another, or the ex- 
port of wool or woollen fabrics from the colonies 

18* 



210 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1754, 

to any foreign country. Twenty years after- 
ward, the Commons resolved that ^' the erection 
of manufactories in the colonies tended to lessen 
their dependency on Great Britain," and it was 
attempted to prohibit the production of iron in 
the colonies. The product of iron, even at this 
early day, was by no means inconsiderable in 
Pennsylvania, whence a supply was furnished to 
the other colonies. Though, owing to the strong 
remonstrances of the colonial agents, the pro- 
duction was not prohibited, still, for the benefit 
of the English iron masters, its importation from 
the colonies into Great Britain was burdened 
with very heavy duties. Subsequently, pig iron 
manufactured in the colonies was admitted into 
England free of duty. But the fabrication of 
steel and bar iron, which the colonists had com- 
menced, was rigidly restricted to the few works 
already in operation. 

As early as 1724, the London ship-carpenters 
complained that their trade was hurt, and their 
workmen emigrated, since so many ships were 
built in the colonies. The Board of Trade de- 
spaired of a remedy. They could not forbid the 
building of ships in America. But the jealousy 
of the English government, lest the colonies 
should become independent of the crown, and 
the avarice of English merchants, manufacturers 
and corporations, did not rest until, by successive 
navigation acts and commercial restrictions, the 



1754.] RESTRICTIONS ON MANUFACTURES. 211 

colonies were driven into feeling that they were 
foreigners and not fellow-subjects. The navi- 
gation laws began with an ordinance, (1651,) 
restricting importations to English vessels, but 
still allowing a direct trade between Europe and 
the colonies. In 1660 foreign ships were ex- 
cluded from all Anglo-American harbours. In 
1663, by another act, all the more valuable pro- 
ducts of the colonies were required to be ship- 
ped exclusively to England. In 1672 a transit 
duty was imposed on certain articles carried 
from one colony to another, the same rates being 
demanded that these articles would pay if car- 
ried to England direct. In 1696 the Board of 
Trade and Plantations was established, former 
laws in regard to the trade and industry of the 
colonies were consolidated, new and more rigor- 
ous clauses were added, and, in addition to the 
inhibition of trade between the colonies and fo- 
reign countries, all direct trade with Ireland was 
prohibited. William Penn in vain suggested a 
Colonial Board, to be formed of representatives 
from the colonies, to meet annually, and regulate 
commerce and establish union for the purposes 
of defence. Ministerial policy would suffer no 
such union. A military dictatorship was pro- 
posed by the Board, but neither plan was adopted. 
The Board of Trade became the colonial depart- 
ment, and monopolized the public business rela- 
tive to the American possessions of Great Bri- 



212 HISTOKY OF PENNSYLVAIs^IA. [1754. 

tain. They were the supervisors of colonial 
laws. Before the Board of Trade the colonial 
agents and proprietors were heard on appeals. 
The origin and name of this bureau exhibits the 
light in which the colonies were regarded; and 
to their fostering care the world is mainly in- 
debted for the successive inroads upon right and 
justice which finally dismembered the British 
empire, and led to the establishment of the great 
American Republic. 

Under all these vexatious restrictions upon 
manufactures and commerce, Pennsylvania still 
flourished, having in her constitution and laws 
the germs, and in her people the spirit of true 
independence and progress. Manufactures still 
flourished though crippled, and restricted in 
many cases to the consumption of the province, 
and even limited to the demands of families and 
communities. Ship building began in Bonn's 
time ; and steadily proceeded, laying the founda- 
tion of the reputation which Philadelphia now 
enjoys of building ships second to none in the 
world. And it is a remarkable fact, now almost 
forgotten, that in 1753 and 1754 two attempts 
were made in a Philadelphia schooner to solve 
the problem of a North-West passage. The 
vessel was the Argo, Captain Swaine. The re- 
sults of the voyages were not important; but 
the fact remains — an evidence of the enterprise 
and liberality of Philadelphia merchants and 



1754.] GOVERNOii MOimis. 213 

citizens under circumstances of discouragement, 
sufficient, it would seem, to crush the soul of 
commerce — to say nothing of the speculative 
spirit of discovery. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Commencement of the dispute between Governor Morris and 
the assembly — Arrival of General Braddock — Services of 
Franklin in providing means of transportation — Action of 
the legislature — Aid to Massachusetts — Continued legislative 
difficulties — Disastrous folly of General Braddock — His de- 
feat — Services of Washington as a volunteer — Dispute about 
proprietary taxes — Consequent embarrassment — The project 
to give bounty lands condemned by the assembly — Indian 
depredations — Continued disputes upon financial matters — 
Petitions and remonstrances — 'Proprietary donation — The 
Supply Bill passed— Excise Bill defeated— Franklin's Militia 
Bill — Course of the Quakers — Volunteer military — Declara- 
tion of war against the Indians — Labours of the Quakers to 
promote peace — Council at Easton — Resignations of Quaker 
members of the assembly — Close of Governor Morris's admi- 
nistration. 

The first dispute between Governor Morris 
and the assembly was upon the usual topic of 
dissension, a money-bill. He called upon the 
house for supplies for the king's service, and 
seconded his request with a detail of the opera- 



214 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1755. 

tions of the French, the weakness of the frontiers, 
and the temper of the Indians. The house voted 
forty thousand pounds currency, one-half for the 
use of the king, the rest to supply the torn and 
defaced bills of former issues. Provision was 
made for its redemption by the excise duty in 
twelve years. The governor insisted upon re- 
ducing the time to five, and the bill was lost. 
Increased demands for military munitions and 
for men were made the basis of another appeal 
from the governor to the legislature. The house 
referred him to the bill which they had already 
passed which awaited his signature, but in the 
meanwhile appointed a committee to borrow five 
thousand pounds on the credit of the assembly. 
While a war of messages and replies was going 
on between the executive and the legislature, 
Major-General Braddock, with two regiments, 
arrived at Alexandria, March, 1755. Through 
the public spirit and address of Franklin, wagons, 
horses and drivers were provided to transport the 
British forces. Franklin was requested by the 
assembly to visit the camp, not as the agent of 
the assembly, but to ofier his services as post- 
master-general. His activity and shrewdness 
accomplished all that was necessary. The as- 
sembly which had been convened to meet the 
exigency, responded at once to General Brad- 
dock's demands : the establishment of a post be- 
tween Philadelphia and Winchester, the Penn- 



1755.] LEGISLATIVE DIFFICULTIES. 215 

sylvania quota of men, and her portion of the 
supplies. They gave no direct encouragement 
to the raising of troops, but applied themselves 
to meet the other requisitions. Every thing 
would have been promptly done but for a pitiful 
technical dispute, which the governor commenced, 
in relation to the journals of the house. Ten 
thousand pounds, required by Massachusetts for 
the northern frontier, were raised, by the sugges- 
tion of Franklin, by drafts on the loan-office, 
without the governor's aid, he having refused to 
sanction a bill passed by the house for the same 
ol^ject — or even to return it with his objections. 
It is but justice to the assembly to say, that ex- 
cept upon subjects where their jealousy of pro- 
prietary assumptions stood in the way, they 
cheerfully contributed to the public defence. 
Bills were passed forbidding the export of provi- 
sions to French possessions. 

In June, 1755, General Braddock broke up 
his encampment at Will's Creek, and moved 
across the Alleghanies to attack Fort Duquesne, 
confident of his ability to take that post. Indeed 
no one, except a few of the sagacious and thought- 
ful, deemed that there was a doubt of his suc- 
cess. The general himself only feared that the 
enemy would abandon and dismantle the fort, 
and make it necessary to repair it or construct 
another. Preparations were on foot among some 
of the sanguine in Philadelphia to celebrate the 



216 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1755. 

victory by fireworks and rejoicings. Letters 
were received by Governor Morris from General 
Braddock, requiring him to provide for the de- 
fence of the frontier settlements, which he said 
would be attacked as soon as he had passed be- 
yond them. He also desired stores to be ready 
to forward to Fort Duquesne, when he should 
have taken possession. Governor Morris con- 
vened the assembly, and asked for the necessary 
supplies. The house requested to see Braddock's 
letter. The governor demanded a pledge of 
secrecy if it were communicated. The house 
resented this insult to their honour and discre- 
tion, and upon such a point of pertinacious 
etiquette adjourned without doing any thing 
whatever — the old dispute about bills for raising 
money being renewed. And this was while their 
own province was the seat of war. 

Meanwhile, General Braddock was proceeding 
with pompous foolishness in his march through 
the wilderness ; "halting," says Washington in 
a letter written during the march, "to level every 
molehill and to erect bridges over every brook." 
Washington had resigned his commission in con- 
sequence of orders from the War Office that all 
officers holding royal commissions should take 
precedence of officers holding the same rank in 
the provincial service; but, at the solicitation 
of General Braddock, he joined him as a volun- 



1755.] braddock's defeat. 217 

teer aid-de-camp. Such of his suggestions as 
were followed Vv-ere of great service. Had 
Washington and other Americans been further 
consulted, disaster would have been averted. 
Within seven miles of Fort Duquesne a handful 
of men put General Braddock's force to a com- 
plete route. Opening a fire upon the advancing 
troops under cover of trees and other objects, 
the French and Indians threw them into terror 
and confusion. The English and provincials 
bravely stood the shock for two or three hours ; 
the provincials in particular, to whom this mode 
of warfare was not new, did themselves great 
credit. General Braddock in vain opposed old- 
world tactics against bush-fighting savages ; the 
regulars, unable to see their foe, broke and fled, 
or fired upon their provincial allies, who had 
taken to the shelter of the trees to fight the 
enemy in their own way. Washington was- 
the only officer of the staff alive and unwounded, 
and he had two horses killed under him, and 
four balls passed through his coat. General 
Braddock and the other officers behaved with 
great courage, sixty-four out of eighty-five and 
one half the privates being killed or wounded. 
Among the slain was the unfortunate com- 
mander. The route waS complete, every 
thing was lost, and a party who only ex- 
pected to annoy and delay the march of a su- 

19 



218 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1755. 

perior force were astonished at gaining a com- 
plete victory. 

The remains of the forces were withdrawn 
from the frontier of Pennsylvania, and to the 
first consternation of defeat were added the 
frightful tales of settlers hurrying for safety 
back to the more densely settled portions of 
the province. The Indians now proved them- 
selves enemies without any considerable excep- 
tion. 

At this dark hour it might have been ex- 
pected that there would have been unanimity 
between the branches of the government. 
The assembly immediately voted fifty thousand 
pounds to the king's use, to be levied by a 
tax on all estates, real and personal, throughout 
the province, the proprietary estates <'not ex- 
cepted." The governor returned the bill with 
one amendment — the striking out of the word 
not, leaving the property of the Penn family 
wholly exempt. 

Thus, at a moment of imminent peril, was the 
dispute re-opened — a dispute to which the mildest 
term we can apply is the one which Franklin, 
himself a party to it, uses. It was indecent. 
Paper pellets passed between the governor and 
the assembly, while the province was in danger 
and unprotected. About three hundred only of 
the Indians maintained their attachment to the 
English, and these even were looking to the 



1755.] DISPUTES WITH ASSEMBLY. 219 

French as allies more to their mind, and surer 
friends. But the supply bill remained unen- 
acted. The governor then proposed to give 
bounty lands west of the Alleghanies to any who 
would volunteer against the French. The house 
disputed his authority to make the grant; and 
alleged, moreover, as the land given would still 
be subject to a quit-rent of four-and-sixpence, 
while land in Virginia was gratuitously granted 
under a quit-rent of two shillings, and even that 
suspended for thirteen years, the governor's pro- 
posal amounted to this: — that to those who 
would, at the hazard of their lives, reconquer 
the proprietary's country from an enemy, the 
proprietors would graciously sell a part at twice 
the price demanded by their neighbours. Frank- 
lin's pen was evident in this. 

The terrified inhabitants implored for arms 
and ammunition, and certain gentlemen sub- 
scribed five hundred pounds, the estimated 
amount of the tax on the proprietary estate. 
That they offered to the assembly. That body 
declared they had no right to compound for the 
taxes on an estate, and sent the petition to the 
governor with the subscribers' names, '' trusting, 
that with this security that the proprietors would 
be reimbursed," he would sign the bill taxing 
their property, and look to the subscribers for 
indemnification. The assembly adjourned with- 
out passing the supply bill ; but they provided 



220 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVA^^IA. [1755. 

for the appeals for arms bj granting one thou- 
sand pounds for the use of the western inhabit- 
ants, to be disbursed by a committee, with the 
governor's sanction. At the next session, held 
in September, the subject of a demand from 
Massachusetts for supplies came before the 
house. The assembly asked for the letter of the 
governor of Massachusetts. The governor com- 
municated its tenor. The house refused to act 
without a sight of the document, declaring that 
"great inaccuracies and want of precision having 
been frequently observed in the governor's man- 
ner of stating matters,'" they could not legislate 
on such data. But one of the members pro- 
ducing a private letter from a friend in the Mas- 
sachusetts government to himself, upon that in- 
formal paper the house appointed a committee 
to receive private subscriptions, and adjourned. 
Subscriptions were received and forwarded. 
Truly the people had great patience with their 
legislature. 

A ncAV assembly was elected, but substantially 
of the same character. After a formal meeting 
the assembly adjourned to December, but was 
summoned to meet on the third of November by 
new alarms. Inroads were made into Pennsyl- 
vania by marauding parties of savages, who 
could for some time scarce believe that the fron- 
tier was unguarded, and kept aloof, fearing that 
the apparent want of protection was an artifice 



1755.] INDIAN DEPREDATIONS. 221 

to beguile them into an ambuscade. But when 
they were convinced of the defenceless state of 
the frontier, the most barbarous and appalling 
murders were committed. Settlements were de- 
stroyed, and not only isolated families, but whole 
communities were broken up and massacred. 
The Moravian brethren at Gnadenhutten were 
attacked, and eleven men, women and children 
were killed, some being burned to death in their 
dwellings. The Shawanese and Delaware In- 
dians, who had been humanely refused permis- 
sion to fight against the French and hostile 
Indians, now went over to the enemy. For the 
heads of the chiefs of these tribes, a reward of 
seven hundred dollars was proclaimed by citizens 
of Philadelphia with the governor's approbation. 
During the month of November nearly a hun- 
dred persons were killed by the Indians, and 
forty frontier settlements were broken up. 

The governor desired of the assembly, money 
and a militia bill. After wasting some time in 
the discussion of the causes of the Indian defec- 
tion, and the effort to fix the blame of it upon 
the proprietaries, the house took up the money 
bill again, being overwhelmed with petitions 
from all parts of the province, in some of which 
the assembly was entreated to forbear unneces- 
sary disputes, and yield to the governor rather 
than endanger the lives of the people. A bill 

was passed for levying a tax, embracing the pro- 

19* 



222 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1756. 

prietary estates, but releasing them from the 
tax, or refunding it, if the proprietors refused to 
assent to it. The governor declined to approve 
this bill, but proposed an act to tax the estates 
of the proprietors by a joint-commission, to be 
appointed by himself and the house, with a 
clause suspending its operation until it was ap- 
proved by the king. The house refused to ac- 
cept this proposition, on the ground that the go- 
vernor had no right to prepare a money bill, 
and threatened to petition the throne for his 
removal. 

The outside pressure on the contentious go- 
vernment continued. The mayor, and some of 
the leading citizens of Philadelphia, changed 
their form of petition to terms which the house 
denounced as "presuming, insolent and impro- 
per." The inhabitants of the outlying districts 
of Philadelphia county came down in a body of 
four hundred, waiting first upon the governor, 
and then upon the house. Executive and legisla- 
ture accused each other of the delay which the 
sturdy remonstrants complained of. The peti- 
tioners, crowding the hall, begged the legislators 
to stop these unseasonable debates, and protect 
their constituents. Even the few Indians who 
remained faithful to the province, implored the 
whites to take up, arms, build forts and furnish 
supplies, and give them an immediate answer, 
that in case of refusal they might consult their 



1756.] PROPRIETARY DONATION. 223 

own safety by following their countrymen over 
to the enemy for safety. 

The house were at length relieved from their 
dilemma, and their pride was saved by a fortu- 
nate circumstance. The news of Braddock's 
defeat awoke the proprietors to the danger of 
their province, and they immediately despatched 
to the governor an order for five thousand 
pounds, to be applied to the use of the colony. 
The house passed the supply bill with the go- 
vernor's amendment, releasing the proprietary 
estates from taxation, and regarded the donation 
made by the Penns as an equivalent. The sum 
given by the proprietors was to be paid from the 
arrears of quit-rents. One thousand pounds 
were collected and paid over. To give the co- 
lony at once the benefit of the remainder, the 
receiver-general prepared a bill for the emission 
of currency, to be redeemed as the rents were 
collected. In this bill he stated the five thou- 
sand pounds to be a ''free gift." The house 
added, with characteristic pertinacity, " in con- 
sideration of being exempted from the payment 
of their taxes tow^ard raising the sum of sixty 
thousand pounds, granted by the assembly for 
the king's use." The governor refused his sanc- 
tion, the bill was lost, and the four thousand 
pounds were left to be received as collected. It 
was certainly rather a strong assumption in the 
house to undertake to define the motives of men 



224 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVAXIA. [1756. 

across the Atlantic in a legislative enactment. 
Another contest occurred between the governor 
and assembly this year (1756) in relation to the 
finances. The excise bill being about to expire, 
the house framed another. The governor amend- 
ed it by a provision that the executive should have 
a joint control with the house over the proceeds 
of the tax. The house refused to accept the 
amendment, and the bill was lost. 

No laws were passed during the administration 
of Governor Morris, except such as related to 
the defence of the province. Among these was 
a Militia Bill, prepared by Franklin, which re- 
ceived only four dissenting votes. It was care- 
fully drawn, and entitled " An act for the better 
ordering and regulating such as are willing and 
desirous to be united for military purposes ;" and 
in its preamble it recited that the assembling of 
volunteers "without authority or call from the 
government, and without due order and direction 
among themselves, might be attended with dan- 
ger to our neighbouring Indian friends and 
allies, as well as to the internal peace of the 
province." The complexion given to the bill 
was that of an act to direct those who were re- 
solved to fight rather than a measure to compel 
or even encourage enlistment. Indeed, compul- 
sion was declared to be a violation of the funda- 
mental law of the province. But the preamble 
also contained an assertion in regard to the 



1756.] ^ COURSE OF THE QUAKERS. 225 

principles of the Friends, which we are asto- 
nished that any of the Society assented to. 
"Whereas this province -was first settled by (and 
a majority of the assemblies have ever since 
been of) the people called Quakers, who, though 
they do not, as the world is now circumstanced, 
condemn the use of arms in others, yet are 
principled against bearing arms themselves," &c. 
Nothing but the pressure of danger could have 
compelled Friends to vote that which is wrong 
in one is not in another. And at this very 
crisis appeared the "Testimony of Friends" 
against contributing money for warlike purposes. 
They declared their willingness to pay taxes or 
contribute money for benevolent purposes, and 
to cultivate friendship with the Indians. " Yet, 
as the raising of sums of money and putting them 
into the hands of committees, who may apply 
them to purposes inconsistent with the peaceable 
testimony we profess and have borne to the 
world, appears to us, in its consequences, to be 
destructive of our religious liberties, we appre- 
hend many among us will be under the neces- 
sity of suffering rather than consenting thereto 
by the payment of a tax for such purposes." 

Under the militia law, and by the efforts of 
Franklin and other influential men, voluntary 
associations were formed; and Franklin, with 
five hundred and sixty men, undertook the 
erection of defences along the north-western 



226 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1756. 

frontier. These defences were erected at an 
expense of eighty-five thousand pounds, in part 
paid by the assembly, and in part by private 
subscriptions. The frontier was, in fact, better 
defended than that of any other colony, after 
the work of defence was once undertaken. There 
were associated companies ready to march when- 
ever called upon, and there was money in the 
treasury to pay their expenses. And to the ge- 
neral defence Pennsylvania afiforded recruits in 
greater number than any other colony, while her 
outlay of money, direct and indirect, was fully 
equal. Formal grants were prevented by the 
discussion of what were deemed important prin- 
ciples, yet the funds were nevertheless raised. 

Franklin returned to the city at the earnest re- 
quest of his friends in the assembly, and there 
found that the military organization was going on 
rapidly. A regiment was formed, mustering twelve 
hundred men, of which Franklin was elected 
colonel. It was reviewed by the colonel on 
Society Hill, and the Pennsylvania Gazette of 
March 25th, 1756, declared it as the general 
opinion that "so grand an appearance was never 
before seen in Pennsylvania." The military 
feeling was predominant. The governor pro- 
posed to declare war against the Delaware and 
Shawanese Indians. A motion was made in the 
assembly to address the governor and petition 
him to suspend the declaration ; but after much 

16* 



1756.] DECLARATION OF WAR. 227 

debate it was suspended indefinitely. Many of 
the Quakers attended the house and prayed that 
body to join them in a remonstrance, but the 
assembly postponed the consideration of their 
petition. The Quakers then drew up a charac- 
teristic and eloquent memorial to the governor 
against the measure, but it was ineffectual. War 
was declared by the governor and council, only 
one member, William Logan, dissenting. And it 
is matter of deep regret that the declaration was 
accompanied with an offer of reward for scalps. 
But while the executive took this measure the 
assembly, true to the pacific principles of the 
founder of the colony, lent all their efforts to 
the work of averting the necessity of war. They 
laboured with diligence and discretion to propi- 
tiate the savages. Through their kindness to 
the friendly Indians, the Six Nations were in- 
duced to mediate between the Shawanese and 
Delawares and the English. The leading Qua- 
kers were active, inviting the friendly Indians 
to their tables, and persuading them to use their 
influence with the others to induce them to re- 
turn to their old friendship for " Onas" and his 
successors. Sir William Johnson, at a conference 
in New York with the Six Nations, aided in the 
work of pacification. Conferences were held 
and hostilities suspended, the conferences being 
principally under the direction and influence of 
the Quakers. In July, 1756, a council was held 



228 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1756. 

at Easton, at which Teedyuscung, a celebrated 
Delaware chief, represented the Indians, and 
in that and in subsequent conferences displayed 
great firmness and shrewdness. The Quakers 
attended as umpires. Nothing was finished at 
this convention, but another one was determined 
upon to meet in November. But before that 
time arrived Morris had ceased to be governor. 

During the last year of Governor Morris, 
several Quakers resigned their seats, unable to 
reconcile the discussion of war questions with 
their consciences, and the same course was also 
taken by ''Friends" in the next assembly. The 
affairs of the colony were discussed in England 
by pamphlets and by newspaper correspondents, 
and Governor Morris and his friends had no 
small share in the discussion. Appeals to the 
crown brought the internal affairs of the pro- 
vince before the English people. Governor 
Morris procured and forwarded to London a pe- 
tition of inhabitants of Pennsylvania to the 
king, representing the defenceless state of the 
province, and praying his interposition. The 
petitioners Avere heard by their agent before a 
committee of the privy council. The committee 
in a report reviewed and condemned the course 
of the assembly in relation to the public de- 
fence ; the militia law was declared improper 
and inadequate; and the report declared that 
there was ''no cause to hope for other measures 



1756.] WILLIAM DENNY GOVERNOR. 229 

^vliile the majority of the assembly consisted of 
persons whose avowed principles were against 
military services." The militia bill was refused 
the royal sanction. A copy of the report of the 
committee, approved by the council, was sent to 
the assembly, and certain members resigned as 
above stated. 

Pending the negotiations with the Indians, 
Governor Morris presented his personal claims 
on the assembly, having received nothing from 
the province for his public services since the first 
session after his arrival. But the house thought 
his services deserved nothing. Though the 
Delawares and Shawanese Indians were nego- 
tiating, the French and Western Indians were 
still devastating the frontiers. These inroads 
increased in audacity and savage cruelty ; and 
of the three thousand settlers west of the Sus- 
quehanna, able to bear arms, not a hundred re- 
mained, except such as were enrolled in the 
volunteer militia. The governor asked for money 
to keep the troops in pay and supplies. The as- 
sembly sent up a bill for raising forty thousand 
pounds ; but the old dispute about taxing the 
proprietary estates was revived, and a new war 
of messages and addresses was cut off by the 
arrival of William Denny, the new governor. 

20 



230 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1T56. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Destruction of the Indian town of Kittanning; — Important effects 
of this victory — Movements of the Quakers — Friendly as- 
sociation — Negotiations with the Indians — Formal declara- 
tion of war between England and France — Governor Denny's 
instructions — Temporary submission of the house — Impolicy 
of the Penns — Review of the instructions by Franklin — His 
mission to England — His vindication of the province through 
the London press — The Historical Review — The proprietaries 
appear before the Board of Trade — Franklin appears for the 
province — The question decided in favour of the assembly — 
Franklin's advice in relation to the war — Pitt prime minister 
— Operations of the army — Capture of Louisburg, Fort 
Frontenac, and Fort Duquesne — Ticonderoga, Niagara and 
Quebec — Capitulation of Montreal — Close of the war — Royal 
disapprobation and provincial indifference — Renewed Indian 
murders — The frontiers depopulated — Relief of Fort Pitt — 
The Paxton Massacre — Danger of the Moravian Indians — 
Manly conduct of Philadelphia — Vigorous measures to close 
the war — Expedition of Colonel Bouquet to Muskingum — 
Restoration of prisoners — Peace with the Indians. 

Offering a reward for the head of a man, 
savage or civilized, has no great tendency to 
dispose him to peace ; and while the negotiations 
with the Indians were in progress, Captain Ja- 
cobs and Shingas, the two Delaware chiefs for 
whom the reward was offered, were scattering 
arrows and death on the frontier, their head- 
quarters being the Indian town of Kittanning, 
on the Alleghany — the site of the present town 



1756.] ATTACK ON KITTANNING. 231 

of the same name. Against this place Governor 
Morris, who, warm in his contests with the as- 
sembly, was no less active in his duties as go- 
vernor and commander of the forces, had planned 
an attack. The plan he communicated to the 
new governor. 

The officer to whom the expedition was en- 
trusted was Colonel John Armstrong of Cumber- 
land county, and a command in the regiment 
was held by Hugh Mercer. Both of these men 
were afterward distinguished in the war of the 
Revolution. The town of Kittanning was within 
thirty miles of Fort Duquesne and the contempt 
which the Indians had at this time acquired for 
-the inefficiency of the operations of the English, 
led them to deem themselves in perfect security 
at this distant point. From thence war parties 
sallied, lighting up the whole frontier with burn- 
ing dwellings. With a force of about three hun- 
dred men Armstrong surprised Kittanning on the 
morning of the 8th September. The Indians 
resisted manfully, but were defeated, between 
thirty and forty being killed in the attack or 
burned in their houses. They were offered 
quarter but refused it, declaring they were men 
and would not be taken prisoners. The attack 
was opportune, as on the very day it occurred 
the savages were to have been joined by a party 
of French Indians,'to set out on an expedition 
against the whites. Eleven English prisoners 



232 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1756. 

were found in the town and released. Large 
quantities of goods, presents from the French, 
were burned; and the powder, of which every 
house contained some, exploded from time to 
time as the buildings burned, projecting the 
bodies of the Indians in the air. The effect of 
this action was to drive the survivors of the hos- 
tile tribes to the w^est of Fort Duquesne as their 
residence, thus making the French lines their 
frontier. The city of Philadelphia addressed a 
letter of thanks to Colonel Armstrong and his 
officers, and presented him with a piece of plate. 
A commemorative medal was also struck. 

This victory had an important influence on 
the negotiations which were pending with the 
Delawares. Pursuant to appointment, Teedyus- 
cung and other Indian chiefs met Governor 
Denny and Colonel Croghan at Easton in No- 
vember. The Quakers, determined to put an 
end to the war, if possible, by removing the 
cause, were present in large numbers. An as- 
sociation called the Friendly Association for 
preserving peace had been formed by members 
of the society and others. This association was 
liberal in its contributions of money, and active 
in its pacific exertions. They put Teedyuscung 
upon his guard, advising him at every step, and 
protecting him against his own infirmities. At 
their suggestion, and notwithstanding the oppo- 
sition of Governor Denny and Colonel Croghan, 



1T57.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH INDIANS. 233 

Charles Thompson, afterward secretary of the 
Continental Congress, appeared as the secretary 
of Teedyuscung, to take minutes of what was 
done and said in the council. Mr. Thompson 
was present as the reporter of the Peace Asso- 
ciation. The regular secretary of the council 
was the secretary of the governor, but his minutes 
being disputed by the Indians, Mr. Thompson's 
were called for. The Indians pronounced them 
true, and forthwith adopted him into their family, 
giving him a name which signifies "The man 
who speaks the truth." And this, by the way, 
was always Mr. Thompson's character. 

Another council was held in the summer of 
1757, and another in the fall of 1758 : Teedyus- 
cung being always present as the representative 
of the Delawares and other small tribes. He 
succeeded, against the governors of New Jersey 
and Pennsylvania, Sir William Johnson, the ge- 
neral Indian agent for the British provinces, and 
against the chiefs of the Six Nations, in esta- 
blishing the fact that the Delaware Indians had 
been wronged. Much intercourse with the 
whites had given him a very respectable know- 
ledge of English, and he did not mince words. 
The Peace Association were his counsellors. He 
charged that the Indians were defrauded in 
various modes— by the "walking purchase ;"^ by 
running lines by the compass, which the Indians 
knew n'othing about ; by buying of one king the 

20* 



234 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1757. 

property of another ; and by affixing the Indian 
names to forged deeds. And he alleged that the 
Six Nations gave lands to the Delawares, and 
then sold them to the whites from under their 
feet. He said that when they had a dispute 
with the English, the latter sent for the Six 
Nations, and corrupted them with presents. 
Then the Six Nations (as already mentioned in 
a previous chapter) called them hard names, and 
drove them from the land without a hearing. 

The sale of Indian lands, made in Albany by 
the chiefs, it appears was made under a misap- 
prehension. The sale was defined as of all the 
land south-west of a west-north-west line from 
the mouth of Penn's Creek to the western boun- 
dary of the state. When the line was run, it 
was found to strike the northern boundary, and 
the Indians were thus entirely unseated. It has 
been well remarked that "the blood of Brad- 
dock's soldiers was added to the price of the 
land." That Teedyuscung could establish his 
charge relative to the forged deeds is not credible. 
There was no need of such a fraud, when the 
simpler mode of ''putting an enemy in their 
mouths" could be resorted to. A bargain closed 
with an Indian drunk, might well be scouted as 
forgery by an Indian sober. Penn made all such 
contracts null and void by law ; and if his course 
had been adhered to, no Indian wars in Penn- 
sylvania would have been formidable. As the 



1758.] WAR WITH FRANCE. 235 

result of the conference of 1758, all the land 
west of the Alleghany, purchased in 1754, was 
restored to the Indians ; an additional compensa- 
tion was given for what they relinquished, and 
all causes of misunderstanding were supposed to 
be removed. The Quakers caused a medal to be 
struck in commemoration of this treaty. They 
were reproved by the governor for their interfe- 
rence, and informed that their conduct had given 
dissatisfaction in England. Sir William Johnson 
complained that they intruded upon his office ; 
and many of their fellow-creatures visited them 
with the reproach of partiality to the Indians, 
and treachery to their own race. It is evident, 
hoAvever, that they did a good and a just work; 
and the governor further consulted them in the 
propitiation of distant tribes, in which service 
none could succeed as well as they. 

After a long period of actual hostilities in their 
colonies and on the ocean, w*ar was formally 
declared between England and France in May, 
1756. The chief direction of the war in Ame- 
rica was given to Lord Loudoun, who was ap- 
pointed governor of Virginia, and colonel of the 
royal American regiment. The assembly of 
Pennsylvania was duly notified by the governor 
of these changes, and the royal instructions were 
communicated that they should appropriate the 
funds raised for the public service under the 
direction of the governor-in-chief, and, that the 



236 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1758. 

American regiment might speedily be raised, 
provide for the payment of the masters of such 
servants as should enlist. Governor Denny, who 
came into oflBce after these events, found no pro- 
vision made by the legislature. But the tired 
members were willing to conciliate. They con- 
gratulated him upon his accession, made him an 
appropriation of a thousand pounds, and asked 
him for a copy of his instructions. 

By the tenor of his commission it appeared 
that he was to deprive the assembly of the sole 
control of the public money; to refuse assent to 
any emission of currency, unless provision were 
made to secure the quit-rents from loss by its 
depreciation ; and to exempt unoccupied and un- 
improved lands and proprietary quit-rents from 
taxation. The house, after receiving this state- 
ment of the tenor of the proprietary instructions, 
appealed to the governor to know if he should 
adhere to them in cases when the measures of 
the house, though not in accordance with the 
proprietary instructions, still had the approbation 
of his own judgment. Governor Denny answered 
that he could not recede from them without the 
risk of his honour and his fortune. The house 
then wisely changed the plan of their operations. 
They passed, under protest, the excise bill, a 
portion of the proceeds of which were to be ap- 
plied by a committee of the house, with the ap- 
probation of the governor. And the public 



1758.] IMPOLICY OF THE PENNS. 23T 

necessity being urgent, thej passed also a bill 
for levying one hundred thousand pounds tax 
upon all property in the province, the proprietary 
estates excepted, the governor obstinately with- 
holding his assent unless that condition were 
incorporated in the act. But these proprietary 
victories in the province, being the assertion and 
maintenance of anti-republican principles and 
selfish policy, recoiled upon the victors in a way 
which they might have anticipated. Yfisdom 
should have admonished them better. Thomas 
and Richard Penn, at this time the proprietaries, 
had neither in the province nor in England the 
strength of their father. The weight of the per- 
sonal character of the founder, and his connection 
with the Society of Friends, gave him a party 
and adherents in the province, and respect at 
home. But the sons left the Quakers; and the 
influence of that body in Pennsylvania was de- 
cidedly rather with the people than with their 
hereditary governors. The English government 
had long been tired of proprietary machinery in 
the colonial relations ; and true policy should 
have prompted the Penns to have made friends 
in some quarter. They apparently chose to 
stand alone. 

The proprietary instructions were referred to 
a committee of the house, of which Franklin, of 
course, was a member. This body made a report, 
drawn up by Franklin, and written with all the 



238 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1760. 

acumen and force of which his vigorous mind 
was capable. The house also despatched Franklin 
to England, with instructions first to remonstrate 
with the proprietaries, and, failing to make an 
impression upon them, to appeal to the Board of 
Trade, and thence, if necessary, to Parliament. 
Franklin arrived in England in July, 1757. It 
was not until June, 1760, that his business was 
brought to a successful termination. 

With an eye to what he soon perceived must 
be the ulterior appeal. Dr. Franklin immediately 
set himself about the work of correcting public 
opinion in relation to Pennsylvania. He took 
the initiatory steps in his mission, by tendering 
a general remonstrance to the proprietaries, co- 
vering the grounds of complaint which had oc- 
casioned the differences between the governors 
and the assemblies. The London newspapers 
were full of unfriendly articles against the peo- 
ple of Pennsylvania, as factious and hostile both 
to the king's prerogative and to proprietary 
rights. They were charged with reluctance and 
backwardness in the public defence, and of re- 
fusing to raise money for the public service, and 
of wasting time in discussions while the Indians 
ravaged their frontier, except by laws clogged 
with such conditions that the governors could not 
sanction them ; and upon the Quakers in the as- 
sembly was charged the principal agency in 
these untimely dissensions. 



1760.] THE HISTORICAL REVIEW. 239 

Franklin took occasion to answer an article 
in one of the newspapers, in which were embo- 
died the various allegations against the Penn- 
sylvanians. He did this in a clear statement of 
facts, showing what Pennsylvania had done, and 
how liberally money had been furnished, forts 
built, and a vessel of war fitted out. Not only 
had Pennsylvania borne her own expenses, un- 
aided, but given assistance liberally to others. 
In short, the letter demonstrated that, though 
the Quakers were opposed to war, they rather 
withdrew from public affairs than strove to em- 
barrass them ; and that in the unjust instructions 
of the proprietaries to their governors the diffi- 
culties had their origin. This letter, written by 
Franklin, was signed by his son. It had a good 
effect on the public mind, and was shortly fol- 
lowed up by another and more important paper. 
This was entitled " An Historical Review of the 
Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania." 
It was of course ex parte, being written with a 
purpose which there was no attempt to conceal — 
to defend the cause of the people against the 
proprietaries. The latter were not spared, even 
the founder being brought under strict examina- 
tion and free censure. As a controversial paper 
it is one of the ablest in the English language. 
The facts and chain of reasoning appear to have 
been furnished by Franklin to James Ralph, a 
former resident of Philadelphia, who made the 



240 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1760. 

compilation in order that Franklin might deny 
the authorship, which he did positively. But 
applying the old maxim, <'What one does by 
another is his own act," Eranklin must be re- 
garded as the author. 

Franklin found the authorities in England in- 
accessible. He could not bring his business to 
a point. But what his endeavours could not ac- 
complish, the short-sighted folly of the proprie- 
taries brought about. They answered Franklin's 
remonstrance by a letter direct to the assembly 
of Pennsylvania, maintaining their old positions. 
This letter reached the assembly (1759) while 
they were engaged with the governor about a 
supply bill. They refused to exempt the pro- 
prietary estates, though they had submitted in 
former instances, and Governor Denny yielded 
his assent. The house showed their gratitude 
by voting the governor a thousand pounds. 
They gave him a like sum upon his passing a 
bill for the issuing of paper money without a 
clause protecting the rents from depreciation, 
and the same sum on his approving a bill in re- 
lation to warrants and surveys, which bill was 
not palatable to the proprietary family. These 
sums, to be sure, were only arrears justly due ; 
but they were paid at a time so peculiar, that 
the proprietaries closed the account by removing 
Governor Denny. Governor Hamilton was a 
second time appointed. 



1760.] DEFEAT OF THE PROPRIETAEIES. 241 

These bills came over to England for the royal 
sanction. The proprietaries appeared by counsel 
before the Board of Trade in opposition to them, 
and Franklin, as the agent of the assembly, with 
the assistance also of counsel, appeared in their 
support. Thus what he had been unable to ob- 
tain, the proprietaries unwillingly afforded him, 
to wit: a hearing before the Board. All the 
laws were negatived, except that taxing the pro- 
prietary estates. This, much to the chagrin of 
the proprietaries, received the royal approval, 
though coupled with conditions that the go- 
vernor should have a voice in the disposal of the 
money; that their waste lands should not be 
taxed ; and that their unimproved lands should 
be rated as low as those of any of the inhabitants. 
Thus the principle was conceded for which the 
assembly had contended; and not only was Penn- 
sylvania pleased with her agent, but the colonies 
of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia press- 
ed upon Dr. Franklin the management of their 
affairs in Europe. 

The comprehensive mind of Dr. Franklin never 
narrowly pursued one subject to the exclusion of 
others. In common with other intelligent Ame- 
ricans, he had seen and felt the inefficient man- 
ner in which the war against the French was 
conducted in America. Through his advice, and 
the information Avhich he communicated, Mr. 
Pitt, then prime minister, gave the able direction 

21 



242 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1760. 

to the conduct of the war which led to its suc- 
cessful results; and it was Franklin's publica- 
tions which led to the retention of Canada by 
the British in the treaty of 1762. The opera- 
tions of the campaigns of 1756 and 1757, under 
Lord Loudoun, resulted only in defeat and dis- 
aster. Pennsylvania was relieved, as we have 
noticed, by Indian treaties ; and the operations 
of the war, not within her territories, do not 
come within our scope. In 1758 Lord Loudoun 
having been recalled. General Abercrombie com- 
manded in chief, with Major-General Amherst 
as second in command, and Wolfe and Forbes as 
brigadiers. Mr. Pitt addressed letters to the 
colonies, urging them to activity and union, and 
promising reimbursement of the expenses borne 
by the colonies. New life and vigour were in- 
fused into the whole field of operations. Major- 
General Amherst reduced Louisburg, General 
Abercrombie, failing at Ticonderoga, compen- 
sated for that repulse by the capture of Fort 
Frontenac, near the junction of the St. Lawrence 
with Lake Ontario. Brigadier-General Forbes 
took possession of Fort Duquesne in November, 
the enemy, awed by the successes of the British 
arms, holding the post only till the approach of 
the English should justify its abandonment. The 
retreating foe dismantled the fortifications, but 
they were put in repair at once and garrisoned. 
This closed the campaign. Fort Duquesne be- 



1759.] CAPTURE OF QUEBEC. 243 

came Fort Pitt, and was never again occupied 
by French or Indians. The march to the place 
was interrupted by two serious encounters, in 
which the English and provincial forces sus- 
tained heavy loss, and the troops suffered much 
from fatigue and destitution. But the result 
elevated the hopes of the colonies, and gave them 
new courage. The assembly and Governor 
Denny were as usual at variance ; but we will 
not weary the reader with these disputes. The 
assembly liberally answered requisitions ; and 
their public spirit was not overlooked, as we shall 
presently see. 

General Amherst was in 1758 appointed com- 
mander-in-chief. In the summer of 1759 he 
reduced Ticonderoga and Crown Point. In 
July, Fort Niagara fell before Sir William 
Johnson, upon whom the command had devolved 
by the death of General Prideaux. In Septem- 
ber the gallant Wolfe wrested Quebec from the 
no less gallant foe, Montcalm. Both heroes fell in 
the engagement. " They fly ! They fly 1" caught 
the ears of the dying Wolfe. "Who fly?" he 
asked; and being answered "The French," he 
replied, "Then I die happy." And when Mont- 
calm, mortally wounded, was told he could sur- 
vive but a few hours : "So much the better," 
he said, " I shall not see the surrender of 
Quebec." So all-absorbing is the fanaticism of 



arms 



244. HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1762. 

During the remaining time of the war with 
France there were no military operations in the 
territory of Pennsylvania. Montreal capitulated 
in September, 1760, carrying with it all the 
points in Canada Avhich the French held. In 
November, 1762, after a short period of war 
with Spain, England concluded a treaty with 
both powers, which put her in possession of the 
whole continent north of Mexico, and east of the 
Mississippi. The country west of the Mississippi 
had been ceded by France to Spain during the 
year before : so that nothing now remained to 
France upon this continent. 

In accordance with Mr. Pitt's promise, whatever 
the colonies contributed above their just quota as 
parts of the empire was redeemed, and Pennsyl- 
vania received twenty-six thousand pounds as 
her quota. The disposal of this occasioned some 
difference between the governor and the assem- 
bly ; and there were also some other disputes 
about money and men. The removal of danger 
awakened the spirit of opposition. George III. 
had now succeeded to the throne ; and the offi- 
cial communication of the peace with France was 
accompanied by a letter expressive of his ma- 
jesty's high displeasure at the late evasions of 
the assembly — such as granting, with seeming 
cheerfulness, the royal requisitions for men, but 
so constructing their supply bills that the go- 
vernor could not sanction them. Governor Ha- 



17G2.] RENEWED INDIAN MURDERS. 245 

milton was directed to inform the assembly that 
the king considered such conduct as proceeding 
from a predetermination not to afford any as- 
sistance to the general service when the immedi- 
ate danger was removed from their own door ; 
and that such conduct, equally with their abso- 
lute refusal to furnish recruits for the regular 
forces, had incurred his majesty's just displea- 
sure. Governor Hamilton laid the letter before 
the house without comment ; and it was entered 
upon the journal without any action upon it. 
The knowledge of what they had done and suf- 
fered, and the peculiar difficulties in which they 
were placed by the exactions of the proprieta- 
ries, indisposed them probably to re-open the 
discussion. 

Though England, and France, and Spain had 
agreed upon terms of peace, the Indians, so 
many years participants in a course so accordant 
with their nature, were not so readily to be pa- 
cified. Having treated with her own Indians, 
even including Shingas, for whose head a reward 
was once offered, Pennsylvania looked for peace. 
The borders of the province were repeopled ; set- 
tlers returned to their farms, and new planta- 
tions were taken up. Suddenly and unexpect- 
edly a new alarm arose. The western Indians 
had formed a confederacy to attack all the 
frontiers of the provinces. They commenced the 
work of murder by killing the traders whom they 

21* 



246 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. ' fl'^'SS. 



had invited among them ; and next attacked all 
the weaker garrisons west and north of the Ohio, 
in most cases taking the posts and murdering 
the garrisons. In the confidence of peace these 
places were weakly manned, and were over- 
whelmed without much resistance. The Indian 
murders in Pennsylvania commenced in June, 
1763, at Fort Pitt, killing Colonel Chapman and 
five or six soldiers, whom they surprised outside 
of the fort, and butchering women and children. 
Through the whole season these outrages con- 
tinued, and were perpetrated along the border, 
from Carlisle to Bethlehem. The savages came 
in small skulking parties, venturing even into the 
interior settlements, burning houses, and slaugh- 
tering men, women and children. The settlers, 
organized into bands of rangers, routed the In- 
dians whenever they came in force or could be 
overtaken ; and maddened by the Indian out- 
rages, the whites partook of the fury of their 
foe, and shot and bayoneted the Indians with- 
out mercy. The barrier towns were crowded 
with houseless wanderers driven in by the savages, 
barely escaping with their lives, and in most 
cases mourning the murder of some of their 
families and kindred. Philadelphia liberally 
contributed to the relief of the suiferers, and all 
the unwasted parts of the province aided. The 
frontier settlers, under command of Colonel 
Armstrong, gave the first organized repulse to 



1763.] BELIEF OF FORT PITT. 247 

the savage foe ; and General Amherst placed the 
only regular troops available at the service of 
the province. The shattered remains of two 
regiments, worn down at the siege of Havana, 
were despatched, under command of Colonel 
Bouquet, to relieve Fort Pitt. This detachment 
gallantly performed the duty ; and on the march, 
in two or three affairs with the Indians, did 
themselves great credit. The commander met 
the Indians with their own artifices, and leading 
them into ambush defeated and dispersed them. 
This expedition relieved the settlers somewhat 
by diverting the attention of the Indians, and 
compelling them to attend to their own defence. 
The harvests w^ere gathered under military pro- 
tection. The assembly voted eight hundred men, 
and passed a bill raising twenty-five thousand 
pounds for their support. Incredible as it may 
appear, this bill was lost by the disputes between 
the governor and the assembly. New ravages 
compelled the next assembly to pass another 
bill ; but they took care to provide the money in 
such a way that it did not commit the assembly 
by concessions to the proprietaries, or give the 
governor pretext to reject it. 

When the troops went into winter-quarters, or 
suspended their active operations, Indian mur- 
ders commenced anew. The friendly Indians — 
a small remnant — under profession of neutrality, 
remained in their settlements, and refused to 



* 248 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1763. 

join their brethren. But they were strongly — 
it may be justly — suspected of holding communi- 
cation with the enemy, and it appears certain 
that some among them were treacherous. It is 
certain that they did not, as they probably might 
have done, warn the whites of what was impend- 
ing ; and some of the warlike Indians were traced 
to their settlements. These visits were no doubt 
unwelcome, but the poor Indians had no mode 
of preventing them. Nor were they free of ap- 
prehension themselves from their ruthless bre- 
thren. 

In December, 1763, occurred a foul transac- 
tion, which is a sad blot on the history of Penn- 
sylvania. The alarming condition of the province 
in regard to the Indians extenuates, nothing can 
excuse the conduct of the actors in the outrage. 
A body of armed and mounted men from Do- 
negal and Paxton townships attacked an Indian 
village, occupied by friendly Indians, on the 
Conestoga manor, at daybreak, and massacred 
all whom they found. Many were killed in 
their beds. The unhappy creatures expected 
least such an attack from the whites, whom 
they regarded as friends and protectors. The 
greater part of the Indian villagers were absent 
at the time of the attack ; and having escaped the 
first massacre were removed to Lancaster, and 
placed under the protection of the magistrates. 
But the rioters assembled again, and in greater 



1763.] PAXTON MASSACRE. 249 

imnibers. They broke into the workhouse, in 
which building the poor wretches had been placed, 
and murdered them all, unarmed and pleading 
for mercy. The massacre was done by about 
fifty men ; and reliable tradition asserts, that 
though none of them were brought to the forms 
of justice, the curse of Cain was upon them, and 
they either died untimely deaths or ended their 
lives in poverty and wretchedness. The magis- 
trates of Lancaster were inexcusable for neither 
taking measures to prevent this murder nor to 
arrest the murderers. The governor issued two 
proclamations, one after each massacre ; and 
some efforts were subsequently made to detect 
the perpetrators, but without success. The pro- 
vince bled at every pore from Indian cruelties ; 
the Paxton insurgents had many defenders ; local 
disputes became entangled with public justice, 
and eloquent and artful pleas were written and 
published. Mistaken and distorted religious 
views entered into the discussion; and, as has 
been the case in many other outrages, the very 
enormity of the thing served to defeat its punish- 
ment. 

The Moravian Indians were in great peril, but 
the authorities took them in charge and removed 
them from Bethlehem to Philadelphia, one hun- 
dred and forty in number. An attempt was 
made to send them to New York. The authori- 
ties of that state refused to permit it. The In- 



250 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1763. 

dians were returned to Philadelphia; and the 
exasperated frontier men came down in large 
bodies, threatening to attack the city. Dr. 
Franklin was as usual active and energetic, and 
did himself high honour by the manly stand 
which he took against the authors and abettors 
in the outrage. He wrote and spoke freely and 
boldly. The city put itself in the attitude of 
defence, the regular troops were in readiness, 
and the citizens under arms or willing to take 
them up. The assembly fortified the governor 
by passing and extending the English riot act 
to the province. Dr. Franklin was grand pacifi- 
cator. The governor took refuge in his house ; 
the insurgents listened to his representations ; 
and the citizens counted him as their right arm. 
Through his influence mainly the insurgents de- 
parted, leaving two of their number to represent 
their case to the governor and assembly. Their 
memorial answered the purpose of a popular ap- 
peal; but the assembly, against their remon- 
strance, passed a bill, changing the trial of per- 
sons accused of murder in Lancaster to one of 
the older counties. No trial for that ofl'ence was 
ever had ; and the only effect produced by the 
act was the excitement of a false sympathy, which 
protected subsequent murderers from justice. 
The county of Lancaster was perhaps willing to 
punish its own Indian murderers; but rather 
than suffer them to be taken to another county 



1764.] EXPEDITION TO MUSKINGUM. 251 

for justice would rescue them from tlie officers. 
The Moravian Indians, after the ferment had 
subsided, were removed to Wyalusing, near Wyo- 
ming, whence again they emigrated some years 
afterward beyond the Ohio. 

Measures were now taken (1764) to reduce 
the Indians. Under the command of General 
Gage and the authority of the British govern- 
ment, operations were commenced against them 
upon a large scale. The Pennsylvania portion 
of the war was conducted under command of 
Colonel Bouquet, who had already shown great 
skill in such service. The supply bill was not 
passed till a debate had been had as usual with 
the governor, (John Penn,) but received his sanc- 
tion'' in May, and in July he proclaimed war 
against the Shawanese and their confederates, 
offering bounties for prisoners and scalps, rang- 
ing from one hundred and fifty down to fifty 
dollars, according to sex and age. Colonel Bou- 
quet pushed on to Fort Pitt, where he was rein- 
forced by troops from Virginia. Thence, with 
fifteen hundred men, he pushed on to the forks 
of the Muskingum River, the heart of the hostile 
country, and then had little more to do than to 
receive the submission of the Indians. He had 
acquired a moral mastery over them which com- 
pelled their reverence, as did his preparations 
for physical force their fear ; and he had the joy 
of restoring two hundred and six captives, men, 



252 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1764. 

women and children to their friends. Many of 
these were welcomed in the camp by relatives 
who had joined the army, determined to rescue 
their friends or revenge their deaths. Such a 
scene as this affords a bettter exculpation of the 
Paxton and other outrages, than volumes of 
words could do ; for it presents in a lively light 
the horror of the friends of the captured and 
murdered, their thirst for the punishment of a 
foe so ruthless, and the mutual joy of captives 
and of those who had effected their release at a 
restoration, the more joyous that it had been 
despaired of. 



CHAPTER Xy. 

Governor John Penn — His construction of the tax law — Reso- 
lutions of the assembly — Petition to the crown — Franklin 
elected speaker — British policy toward the colonies — 
Franklin loses his election to the legislature — Sent to Eng- 
land as colonial agent — The Stamp Act passed — The effect 
in America — " Sons of Liberty" — Arrival of the stamps at 
Philadelphia — Union of the colonies — Non-importation — 
Philadelphia proceedings — Stamp Act repealed — Declara- 
tory Act — New revenue laws — Awakened resistance — 
— Pennsylvania resolutions — Non-importation again — 'Re- 
peal of a portion of the obnoxious duties — The principle 
still maintained — First bloodshed in Boston — The Wyoming 
dispute — Death of Teedyuscung — First Wyoming mas- 
sacre — Dispute with Virginia — Death of Logan the Indian 
chief. 

One appeal to the royal government having 
been successful in obtaining the establishment 



1764.] GOVERNOR JOHN PENN. 253 

of a just principle of taxation — the including of 
the proprietary estates — the assembly of Penn- 
sylvania determined upon another and a bolder 
step. Governor Hamilton had his difficulties in 
relation to money bills ; but John Penn, Esq., 
who succeeded him as governor, in 1763, added 
a demand to past exactions which brought the 
quarrel to a crisis. In the midst of the Indian 
difficulties which filled the province with alarm, 
Governor Penn insisted that the agreement that 
the proprietary estates should be taxed only 
subjected those lands, of whatever quality, to the 
rates which others paid for the poorest lands. 
Against this selfish demand the assembly pro- 
tested, but in the exigencies of the public were 
forced to submit. 

They did not, however, silently yield the case, 
but appointed a committee to take into consi- 
deration the grievances of the province. This 
committee, of which Dr. Franklin was a member, 
reported a series of resolutions, reviewing the 
history of the province, and including all the 
subjects of complaint against the proprietaries. 
The resolutions concluded with a declaration, 
that for these reasons the powers of government 
ought, in all good policy, to be separated from 
the power conferred by the possession of an im- 
mense proprietary interest in the province, and 
lodged in the hands of the king. Having passed 
these resolutions they adjourned to consult their 

22 



254 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1764. 

constituents, and after seven weeks interval re- 
assembled. In the mean season a petition to the 
throne was prepared, and presented to the as- 
sembly for transmission. It was signed by three 
thousand five hundred of the people of the pro- 
vince. On the contrary part appeared only one 
petition, signed by about forty persons residing 
in an obscure town in Lancaster county. The 
Quakers, as a society, united in the petition for 
the contemplated change. The proprietaries 
had ceased to hold their sympathies ; and though 
a few personal friends and adherents of the Penn 
family still clung to the proprietaries, the great 
body of the Quakers, and most of the Episcopa- 
lians, were of the party who preferred royal rule 
to the embarrassments of the proprietary machi- 
nery. The larger number of the Presbyterians 
were opposed to the change ; and their leading 
clergymen addressed a circular to the people of 
their connection in the province against it. 
Other pamphlets were published. Speeches 
with prefaces appeared ; and in various forms the 
press was employed in the discussion of the mat- 
ter. The house prepared a memorial to forward 
with the popular petitions. The venerable Isaac 
Norris, speaker of the house, resigned rather 
than affix his name as speaker. Benjamin Frank- 
lin was chosen in his place, and affixed his sig- 
nature to the petition. 

But matters of more general and momentous 



1764.] BRiTisn POLICY. 255 

importance now overshadowed the colonial dis- 
putes of Pennsylvania. The British cabinet, in tlie 
spring of 1764, determined upon the Stamp Act, 
as the crowning measure of their schemes of 
finance for the colonies. The navigation laws 
and restrictions on trade and commerce were to 
be rigidly enforced. A standing army of ten 
thousand men was to be quartered in America, 
and a revenue was to be drawn from the colonies 
for the support of this force, and any excess over 
the sum requisite to go into the royal exchequer. 
The plan contemplated making the whole go- 
vernment independent of the people. The officers 
of the British navy were made custom-house 
officers. As the duties and customs were not 
sufficient, the sale of government stamps was to 
be added; but the imposition of the tax was de- 
ferred to give the colonies an opportunity to be 
heard, which opportunity, we may add, was 
never fairly accorded to them. 

Our space does not permit us to go over the 
familiar history of American remonstrance, in 
which every colony, except those just acquired 
from France and Spain, united. Pennsylvania 
saw in such a mode of raising revenue the de- 
claration of a principle which would deprive the 
people of their most essential rights as British 
subjects, and the assembly instructed their agent 
in London to remonstrate. Dr. Franklin, as 
speaker, signed these instructions, not foreseeing 



256 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1765. 

that he would be the agent to be guided bj them. 
But at the next election Franklin sustained his 
first popular defeat, being left out of the house 
by a majority of about twenty-five votes in four 
thousand. The proprietary interest, and pro- 
bably the enmity he had incurred by his bold 
words on the Paxton massacre, occasioned this 
result. But the average complexion of the legis- 
lature was little changed; and the mortification 
of Franklin was relieved by his appointment by 
the assembly, by a large majority, as their agent, 
to proceed to England and take charge of the 
petition in relation to the change of government, 
and the remonstrance against the Stamp Act. 
The former was lost in the importance of thei 
latter. 

In spite of remonstrance, without indeed for- 
mal hearing of it, the British House of Commons, 
on the 27th of February, 1765, jDassed the Stamp 
Act. It was read on the 13th, when first intro- 
duced, without a word of debate. West India 
merchants in London petitioned against it, and 
were told that it was a rule of the house to re- 
ceive no petitions against a money-bill. The 
same fate awaited the petitions of the colonies 
which the British ministry had invited, by delay- 
ing the act for a year to admit of the colonies 
"being consulted." Being insulted proved the 
real fate of the colonies in the matter. There 
were conferences with the Board of Trade, and 



1765.] STAMP ACT PASSED. 257 

some informal conversation between the friends 
of America and members of the ministry. There 
were some noble eiForts made in the Commons to 
arrest the measure. But in the House of Lords, 
on the 8th of March, the bill which divided an 
empire passed without a dissentient vote, and 
without having called out the proposition of an 
amendment — Avithout even the formality of a 
division. Subsequent events were a surprise to 
every body out of America. Resistance was 
not dreamed of in Europe. The English people 
were apparently more unanimous than the Par- 
liament, for the nation looked for an abatement 
of its internal taxes in the taxation of America. 
And thus was passed a law which it was thought 
would compel its own collection, by giving the 
royal exchequer a percentage on every mercan- 
tile transaction, and a share of every lawyer 
and litigant's costs ; a tax on every printer's 
profit ; a percentage upon marriage certificates, 
apothecaries' prescriptions, birth registers, and 
burial fees. Even the agents of the colonies 
dreamed of no resistance, and were induced to 
make nominations of fit persons in America as 
stamp officers, on the principle, as was coarsely 
but wittily said, that when a man is hanged, it 
is better to keep the executioner's fee in the 
family. 

The inhabitants of the colonies universally 
refused to permit the Stamp Act to go into 



258 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA, [1765. 

operation. The day fixed in the act for the duty 
to go into effect was the 1st of November./ But 
the legislatures of the provinces, Virginia taking 
the lead in a series of resolutions offered by 
Patrick Henry, pronounced against the act. The 
Pennsylvania assembly, accustomed to define its 
position, was temperate but firm. A congress 
of delegates from the several assemblies was 
called, on the suggestion of Massachusetts, to 
meet in New York in October. The speech of 
Colonel Barre, a member of the British Com- 
mons, who had served in America with Wolfe, 
furnished a key-note for the Americans in their 
resistance. He opposed the measure in spirited 
and eloquent language, which found its way into 
the American newspapers, and has since been 
stereotyped in the popular selections of speeches 
for declamation. No village declaiming club for 
the half century following Colonel Barre's first 
utterance, failed to have in its programme the 
stirring speech of the friend of America. He 
spoke of the colonists as "Sons of Liberty." 
The Young America of that day caught at the 
appellation ; and while older and more cautious 
patriots reasoned and remonstrated, the '' Sons 
of Liberty" burned and hanged stamp-ofiicers 
in effigy, and destroyed the property of ob- 
noxious individuals. No man who had accepted 
the office in America ever performed its func- 
tions. Mr. Hughes, the stamp-officer for Phila- 



1765.] ARRIVAL OF STAMPS. 259 

delphia, Franklin's appointee, was dangerously 
ill when' the stamps arrived. Muffled bells tolled, 
flags floated at half-mast, and an immense con- 
course of citizens assembled at the state-house. 
In deference to the condition of Mr. Hughes, a 
committee of gentlemen waited upon him in his 
sick room. He gave them assurance that he 
would not attempt to exercise his office until the 
Stamp Act should be generally submitted to in 
the other colonies. They required a written 
promise. He repeated his verbal assurance. 
With this, the declaration of a man who seemed 
upon the brink of the grave, the people contented 
themselves. But when Mr. Hughes became con- 
valescent, he was compelled to enter into a pub- 
lic engagement that he would not assume his 
office until required to do so by the people. The 
stamps were placed on board of a vessel of war 
then lying in the harbour. Some of these revo- 
lutionary memorials are still in existence, or 
were until recently, among the unconsidered 
lumber of the British public offices. 

The delegates of the colonies who met in New 
York on the second Tuesday in October, adopted 
a declaration of their rights and grievances, a 
petition to the king, and a memorial to Parlia- 
ment. Non-importation was agreed upon, form- 
ally and informally, throughout the colonies. 
Homespun suits became the fashion; and the 
graduating class of Harvard College, Massa- 



260 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVAI^IA. [1765. 

chusetts, took their degrees in domestic suits. 
Where homespun suits could not readily be had, 
the old ones were worn on and on ; and fashion 
made threadbare garments the evidence alike 
of position and of patriotism. 

These formidable demonstrations were not 
without their weight, though the people of Eng- 
land, as we have already said, and the majority 
of her statesmen, contended for the supremacy 
of Parliament. The Grenville ministry went 
out, not from any condemnation of their colonial 
policy, but from causes upon which we have no 
need to dilate. The Stamp Act had been en- 
tirely nugatory in the United States. The courts 
and public offices were closed, or else opened 
without regard to the provisions of the act. In 
Philadelphia a semi-sheet of the Gazette was 
issued on the 1st of November, without title, and 
the words "No Stamped Paper to be had," sup- 
plied the place of the head of the paper. On the 
14th, a sheet was issued, headed "Remarkable 
Occurrences." On the 21st the regular publica- 
tion was resumed. It became evident that 'no- 
thing but force could compel the observance of 
the act which it had been supposed would en- 
force itself; and it was a troublesome problem 
to determine how that force could be applied. 
The new ministry did not feel disposed to inherit 
the difficulties of their predecessors, or to attempt 
to carry out a measure which, while in the ojDpo- 



1765.] REPEAL OP STAMP ACT. 261 

sition, they had denounced. A project for the 
repeal was brought forward by the new ministry, 
and carried ; in the Commons by a vote of two 
hundred and seventy-five against one hundred 
and sixty-seven ; in the Lords by a vote of one 
hundred and five against seventy-one. The dis- 
senting lords recorded their protests. The trad- 
ing portion of the nation who had begun to feel 
the loss of their business, rejoiced at the close 
of the struggle, in the hope of new orders. Frank- 
lin, who had been heard before a committee of 
the whole house upon the subject, and whose 
clear statements and pointed replies had done 
no little to produce the result, sent to his wife 
Deborah, with the tidings of the repeal, a new 
dress of Pompadour satin. 

The act of repeal was received in America 
with rejoicings. Philadelphia was illuminated. 
Barrels of beer were placed on tap. The princi- 
pal inhabitants gave an entertainment, at which 
the civil and military officers, royal and provin- 
cial, were guests, and it was determined to cele- 
brate the coming royal birth-day in new suits 
of British manufacture. And so it was done. 
Other colonies erected statues of the kincc and 
of Pitt. The leaden George III. placed by 
New York in the Bowling Green in that city, 
was a few years subsequently cast into bullets. 

But the exultation at the passage of the re- 
peal was not intemperate or excessive. It was 



262 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1767. 

coupled with a declaration of the right of Parlia- 
ment to tax the colonies in all cases whatsoever, 
and followed by a resolution requiring the colo- 
nies to make indemnity to those who had suffered 
losses in the Stamp Act riots. Pennsylvania 
had no restitution to make, having had no de- 
struction of property. New York complied, and 
so did Massachusetts ; but the same act in the 
latter state granted a free pardon to the rioters. 
The persistence of the ministry in affirming 
the right to tax was evinced to be no mere form. 
Acts were passed in 1767, levying duties on 
articles imported into America, establishing a 
board of revenue commissioners for that country, 
providing for the standing army in the colonies, 
and fixing permanent salaries for the governors 
and judges, and paying them from the royal 
exchequer ; thus making the executive and judi- 
ciary independent of the colonial legislatures, 
and holding a force in reserve to compel obedi- 
ence. The colonies w^ould be thus effectually 
deprived of even the semblance of freedom. In 
the enforcement of the revenue laws jurisdi(?tion 
was given to Admiralty courts, without the right 
of jury trial ; and for offences against public 
property it was enacted that the offenders should 
be transported to England for trial. Pennsyl- 
vania instantly took the alarm. Her agents in 
London were directed to unite with the ao-ents 
of the other colonies in any decent application 



1767.] PETITIONS TO PARLIAMENT. 263 

to Parliament. Massachusetts addressed a cir- 
cular letter to the other colonies, pointing out 
the evil effects of the late parliamentary mea- 
sures. This circular was entered on the journals 
of the Pennsylvania assembly. Another from 
Virginia of similar tenor recommended a union 
of the colonies. To this by resolution the 
house assented, and appointed a committee to 
memorialize the king and Parliament. These 
petitions were written in a clear and forcible, 
yet respectful tone. Governor Penn laid before 
the house at the same session a letter from the 
secretary of the colonies, in which it was said 
that no doubt existed of the loyalty of Pennsyl- 
vania, and that her assembly would treat the 
Massachusetts circular "with the contempt it 
deserved;" but in case a disposition were shown 
by the assembly to countenance the Massachu- 
setts sedition, the governor of Pennsylvania was 
commanded to prorogue or dissolve it. The house 
answered this ministerial mandate with a resolu- 
tion that they had the right to sit on their own 
adjournments, and that the governor had no 
power to prorogue them ; and that they had fur- 
ther an undoubted right to correspond with the 
representatives of the freemen of any of his ma- 
jesty's colonies on the subject of the public 
grievances. 

Among the many able political writings which 
marked this period were " Letters from a Farmer 



264 HISTOEY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1770- 

in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British 
Colonies." They were written by John Dick- 
enson, and republished in every colony. Dr. ^ 
Franklin republished them in London with a 1 
preface. The people everywhere came again 
into non-importation agreements. Even the 
English manufacturers and traders were brought 
to memorialize Parliament to repeal the acts 
which caused the suspension of all colonial trade. 
Again the ministry ungraciously receded, re- 
pealing the obnoxious duties on every thing but 
tea, and keeping it upon that solely to defend 
the principle. The colonists modified their non- 
importation agreements to have effect upon tea 
alone, and the drinkers of the beverage solaced 
themselves with a smuggled article. Duty was 
paid in Pennsylvania on one chest of tea only. 

The fijst blood had been shed in the dispute 
between the colonies and the mother country. 
In January, 1770, a collision occurred between 
the British troops and some of the citizens of 
Boston, which caused the death of three persons 
and the dangerous wounding of five others. For 
a year and a half troops had been quartered in 
the city, and treated by the inhabitants as foreign 
enemies rather than as fellow-subjects. There 
was great difficulty in finding quarters for them ; 
nobody being willing to assume the unpopular 
office of providing for those who were deemed 
the public enemies. The governor's council re- 



1770.] BORDER DISPUTES. 265 

ferred General Gage to the selectmen. But as 
the Act of Parliament named only justices, the 
selectmen referred General Gage to them. The 
justices declined, and the general was compelled 
to hire houses, and furnish firing and bedding 
from the military chest. Mobs constantly as- 
saulted the soldiers, and at last an affray occurred 
with the result above mentioned. The troops 
were removed to the castle ; the soldiers who 
fired were tried, and had as their counsel John 
Adams and Josiah Quincy. All were acquitted 
except two, who were found guilty of man- 
slaughter, and subjected to a slight punishment. 
This was a most honourable act in a Boston 

We must now turn aside for a moment to no- 
tice Indian difficulties and border disputes. In 
doing this we must review events to make the 
narrative intelligible. There seems no doubt 
that the lavish original grant of Connecticut co- 
vered a part of the land afterward granted to 
William Penn, namely, a degree of latitude, and 
four or five of longitude. It was held by the 
proprietaries that the adjustment of the bounda- 
ries of Connecticut with New York cut off the 
claims of Connecticut to the West. But the 
Susquehanna company, formed by certain men 
in Connecticut, insisted that Connecticut held, 
under her charter " from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific," a claim to the lands west of the corner of 

23 



266 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1770. ^ 

New York which separates Pennsylvania and 
Connecticut. The Susquehanna company pur- 
chased of certain Indian chiefs at Albany, in 
1754, the Indian title to a tract including the 
sadly celebrated Wyoming Valley ; and the pro- 
prietaries of Pennsylvania made a like ill-starred 
purchase, as we have already recounted. The 
Indians uniformly denied the fact of the Con- 
necticut sale as they did the justice of that to 
the Pennsylvanians. In 1763 the Pennsylva- 
nians having receded from their purchase, the 
Connecticut men still claimed theirs, and had 
cleared a large space in the valley of Wyoming. 
The chieftain Teedyuscung resided there, and 
protested against this invasion of the ground 
which had been restored to the Indians by the 
treaty of 1758. But the whites persisted. Some 
warriors of the Six Nations murdered Teedyus- 
cung, setting fire to the old man's house while 
he slept, and he perished in the flames. The 
murderers had furthermore the wicked address 
to induce the Delawares to believe that the 
whites had killed their chief. In revenge, the 
Indians in October, 1763, fell upon the Wyoming 
settlement, and butchered thirty of the whites 
in cold blood. The survivors attempted to reach 
the denser settlements. Some succeeded, many 
perished. Their houses were burned, and the 
whole tract desolated. A party of Moravian 
Indians, dreading lest in the vengeance of the 



1770.] BORDER DISPUTES. 267 

whites they should ,be included, removed to 
Gnadenhutten, and were thence taken to Phila- 
delphia after the Paxton massacre, as previously 
stated ; but with difficulty saved, even there. 

In 1768, finding that the Connecticut settlers 
would not respect the reservation made to the 
Indians, the proprietaries purchased the Indian 
title, and prepared to defend it. They laid out 
the territory in manors, and by offering favour- 
able terms, induced settlers to occupy the ground. 
The Susquehanna company also- took steps to 
occupy the tract ; and the two interests came into 
troublesome and even hostile collision. And 
thus the quarrel continued; the Connecticut set- 
tlers obtaining possession until 1802, when the 
dispute was terminated by the decision of Con- 
gress in favour of Pennsylvania, and by subse- 
quent laws of the state the matter was adjusted. 
The \Yyoming Yalley furnished its quota for the 
Connecticut line during the Revolution ; and was 
the scene of another fearful tragedy, of which 
notice will be taken in its place. 

Richard Penn was governor of Pennsylvania 
for two years previous to September, 1773, by 
the absence of John Penn in Europe. His admi- 
nistration was popular and conciliatory. In 
1774 occurred an unfortunate collision with Vir- 
ginia, as to the western boundary, Virginia 
claiming all west of the Alleghanies. This dis- 
pute was adjusted in 1780, and the present 



268 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1770. 

western boundary of Pennsylvania was fixed. 
But during the disputes, as seems to have been 
usually the case when the whites contended for 
territory, Indian murders and revengeful reta- 
liations were frequent. In the course of these 
frays the family of the famous chief Logan were 
murdered. This chief, who had hitherto been 
the friend of the white man, took up the hatchet 
with his countrymen. Lord Dunmore of Vir- 
ginia, who conducted the war, compelled the In- 
dians to capitulate. Logan would not attend 
the convention, but sent in his speech. " There 
runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any 
living creature. This called on me for revenge ; 
I have sought it ; I have killed many ; I have 
glutted my vengeance ! For my people, I rejoice 
at the beams of peace ; but do not harbour a 
thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan 
never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to 
save his life ! Who is there to mourn for Logan ? 
Not one!" 

Shattered in reason — become intemperate in 
his habits — the wreck of a noble chieftain — Lo- 
gan wandered away into the wilderness. He was 
murdered by some of his savage race, but where 
or how are matters of uncertainty. Who shall 
say that the love of kindred glows not in the 
dusky breast ! that the savage of the wilderness 
is insensible to sorrow I 



1772.] TEA DIFFICULTIES. 269 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The tea difficulties — Indignation of the colonists — Destruction 
of the obnoxious article — Meeting in Philadelphia — Eetalia- 
tory acts of the British Parliament — Quebec Act — Meetings 
in Philadelphia — Provincial conference — Instructions to 
state assembly — Continental Congress — Massachusetts sup- 
ported — Declaration of rights — Articles of association — Pe- 
titions and memorials — Committee of correspondence — 
Action of state assemblies — Governor Penn's remonstrance 
— Proceedings of the British ministry — More oppressive 
acts — Lord North's plan of conciliation — Provincial conven- 
tion — Testimony of Friends — Thomas Mifflin — Lord North's 
proposal rejected — Affair of Lexington — Excitement in con- 
sequence — Military association — Quaker Blues — Continental 
Congress — Franklin appointed postmaster-general — Penn- 
sylvania assembly — Committee of safety — Governor Penn— • 
Bunker Hill — Pennsylvania committee of safety — State of 
parties — Instructions to delegates in Congress — Military duty 
made compulsory — Evacuation of Boston — Popular excite- 
ment in favour of change — Congress resolve away allegi- 
ance to Great Britain — First war-alarm near Philadelphia 
— The assembly meet — The people protest — Resolution of 
Congress in favour of independence — The assembly rescind 
their instructions — Provincial conference — Declaration of 
Independence — Pennsylvania convention — End of the char- 
ter government. 

The affirmation of tlie right of Parliament 
to tax the colonies, while it remained a mere 
declaration, and was restricted to the single 
article of tea, kept suspicion alive indeed, but 
offered no opportunity for collision. English 
merchants forebore to ship, and Americans re- 

23* 



270 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1772. 

fused to order the obnoxious article. Meanwhile 
smugglers could supply from the continent of 
Europe sufficient for all the wants of the colonies, 
and at a rate cheaper than it could reach Ame- 
rica in the regular trade. Thus the duty re- 
mained a dead letter. 

The East India Company applied to the Bri- 
tish government for the repeal of the colonial 
duty on tea, that their diminished revenue might 
be restored. The company proposed that the 
duty of sixpence levied in England upon its ex- 
portation should be retained, and the duty in 
the colonies abolished altogether. The company 
were restricted from importing tea on their own 
account. But Lord North, then in the ministry, 
proposed and carried a measure which he sup- 
posed would both relieve the company and pur- 
chase the submission of the colonies. The re- 
straint on the company in the matter of being 
their own factors was taken off* The whole 
English duty on tea exported to the colonies was 
abolished. The colonial duty was retained. Tea, 
under these regulations, had they gone into suc- 
cessful operation, could have been purchased in 
the colonies cheaper than in England, and at a 
less rate than it had ever been before. The 
number of factors through whose hands it must 
pass would have been diminished, English mer- 
chants being superseded by a powerful company; 
and tea, through the custom-house, would reach 



1773.] MEETING AT PHILADELPHIA. 271 

the American consumer at a less price than even 
the smuggled commodity. Thus was an effort 
made to buy the surrender of principle by penny 
bribes. It was indignantly and boldly met. In 
Boston, the tea which arrived under these 
arrangements was thrown into the dock by a 
party of citizens in disguise. In Charleston, 
South Carolina, it was landed, and spoiled by 
storage in damp cellars. The New York and 
Philadelphia tea ships returned with their car- 
goes. Two cargoes were landed in Portsmouth, 
'New Haven/ but reshipped. At Annapolis, Mary- 
land, the vessel in which the tea arrived was 
burned with her cargo — the owner himself apply- 
ing the torch, under the pressure of fear of 
popular violence. 

The arrival of the tea ships was not unex- 
pected. The passage of the measures relative to 
the importation prepared the Americans for re- 
sistance. Philadelphia took the initiative, and 
at a town meeting in October, 1773, passed spi- 
rited resolutions. In terse but emphatic terms 
these resolutions pointed out that the effect of 
the ministerial policy, if pursued, would be to 
render American legislation useless, and intro- 
duce arbitrary government, and slavery. Who- 
ever should countenance the importation was 
denounced as an enemy to his country. The con- 
signees of the tea were required to resign. Some 
did so at once, and all eventually complied. 



272 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1774. 

The Philadelphia resolutions were adopted in 
Boston, with a supplement. Committees of cor- 
respondence were appointed in the several colo- 
nies, and one sentiment appeared to animate the 
whole people ; that is to say, a controlling ma- 
jority of the whole, These "rebellious" pro- 
ceedings were met in Great Britain by several 
acts of Parliament ; one closed the port of Bos- 
ton, another subverted the Massachusetts con- 
stitution ; another authorized the transporta- 
tion of alleged criminals to England for trial ; 
another provided the quartering of soldiers upon 
the inhabitants. In another measure, the minis- 
try showed some marks of wisdom, which we 
marvel to find in such a batch of impolitic and 
rash proceedings. By the famous Quebec Act, 
the religious freedom and national customs of 
the Canadians, and the property of their church, 
were affirmed and restored. Thus were the Ca- 
nadas saved to the crown ; and although the 
British government took care to give to the 
people no legislative power, the simple habitans 
cared nothing about that. It was a something 
they had never possessed and could not value. 
Neither addresses nor invasion from the other 
colonies succeeded in breaking their allegiance. 

Virginia proclaimed a fast to be kept on the 
first day of June, 1774, the day on which the 
port bill took effect. Throughout the continent 
the day was observed. In Philadelphia the 



1774.] MASSACHUSETTS SUPPORTED. 273 

measure was adopted in town meeting, the Qua- 
kers only dissenting, and that upon the grounds 
of their discipline, while they declared their 
sympathy. The patriots of Philadelphia called 
several meetings in relation to the measures 
taken by the British ministry against Massa- 
chusetts. At the first of these meetings a pub- 
lic letter or appeal from Boston was considered. 
It was replied to in the style characteristic of 
Pennsylvania policy — yielding as to circum- 
stances, unyielding as to principle. Payment 
for the tea was recommended, if thereby the 
unhappy controversy could be determined, "but 
the indefeasible right of granting their own 
money, and not the value of the tea, was the 
matter in consideration." A Congress of depu- 
ties from the several colonies was declared neces- 
sary to devise means for restoring harmony 
between Great Britain and the colonies ; firm- 
ness, prudence, and moderation were recommend- 
ed to the Bostonians, and they were assured of 
the adherence of the people of Pennsylvania to 
the cause of American liberty. 

At a subsequent meeting, at which it was esti- 
mated eight thousand people were present, the 
Boston port bill was declared unconstitutional. 
The expediency of a Continental Congress was 
affirmed, and a committee of forty-three were 
appointed for the necessary correspondence, and 
to set on foot a subscription for the relief of the 



2T4 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1774. 



Boston sufferers. This committee immediately 
addressed a circular to all the counties, request- 
ing the appointment of deputies to a conference 
at Philadelphia ; and in pursuance of the call, a 
highly respectable body of freemen met on the 
15th of July, 1774, representing the influence 
and weight of the province. Thomas Willing 
was chairman of this convention, and Charles 
Thompson, secretary. At this convention a se- 
ries of resolutions were adopted which covered 
the whole ground. After enumerating the rea- 
sonable causes of complaint against Great Bri- 
tain, and declaring a Colonial Congress neces- 
sary, the convention resolved, that although its 
members desired that the gentler mode of stating 
their grievances should be tried by the projected 
Continental Congress, yet, if non-importation 
and non-exportation were deemed expedient, 
Pennsylvania would join with the other colonies 
in such an association as should be agreed upon. 
It was also resolved that it was the duty of every 
member of the convention to promote, to the 
utmost of his power, the subscription set on foot 
in the several counties of the province for the 
relief of the distressed inhabitants of Boston. 
The convention assumed also, as the special and 
immediate representatives of the people, the right 
to instruct the assembly which was now about 
to convene, and to request that body to appoint 
delegates to the Colonial Congress. These reso- 



1774.] CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 275 

lutions desired the assembly to instruct their 
delegates to exert themselves, in the ensuing 
Congress, to obtain a repeal of all the oppressive 
acts which had occasioned the difficulty ; and 
that in return for these concessions, the colonies 
should consent to settle a certain annual revenue 
on the crown, and to satisfy all damages done to 
the East India Company. In case all could not 
be obtained, the repeal of the most onerous was 
declared indispensable. The assembly were de- 
sired also to instruct their deputies to unite with 
those of the other colonies, even though the plans 
they should present, as the deputies of Pennsyl- 
vania, should not be carried. 

These proceedings were laid before the as- 
sembly, while they had under consideration the 
proceedings of the other colonies upon the same 
subject. The assembly unanimously appointed 
as their delegates to Congress, Joseph Galloway, 
Samuel Rhoads, Thomas Mifflin, Charles Hum- 
phries, George Ross, Edward Riddle, and John 
Dickenson. The Congress assembled in Phila- 
delphia, in Carpenter's Hall, on the 4th of 
September, and organized by electing Peyton 
Randolph of Virginia, president, and Charles 
Thompson, of Philadelphia, secretary. The Con- 
gress consisted of fifty-three members, Georgia 
alone being unrepresented. There were fifty- 
three delegates present. Each province had a 
single vote in the proceedings, and eight weeks 



276 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1774. 

were spent in deliberation. The meetings were 
held with closed doors ; and though the measures 
adopted went abroad with the apparent seal and 
with all the force of unanimity, the resolutions 
and decisions were the subject of earnest debate, 
and in some cases met considerable opposition. 
But patriotism prompted concessions; and for 
the good of the whole, and the sake of union, the 
patriotic men who formed this assembly sur- 
rendered private opinions and sectional preju- 
dices. The meetings were opened with prayer, 
a rigid Congregationalist of Massachusetts, 
Samuel Adams, moving the appointment of Rev. 
Jacob Duche, an Episcopal clergyman of Phila- 
delphia. 

It was resolved that the whole continent ought 
to support Massachusetts in her resistance to the 
oppressive measures of Great Britain. A De- 
claration of Rights was adopted, in which the 
privileges of British subjects were declared to be 
the birthright of the colonists. The oppressive 
acts passed by Parliament since the accession of 
George III. were denounced as a derogation 
of the rights of the freemen of America. By 
"Articles of Association" the colonists were 
pledged to commercial non-intercourse with Great 
Britain, and such of her colonial dependencies as 
should not enter into the same agreement. Com- 
mittees were directed to be appointed in every 
colony to detect and publish the names of the 



1775.] governor's remonstrance. 277 

violators of the agreement. A petition to the 
king, and memorials to the inhabitants of British 
America, to the inhabitants of Canada, and to 
the people of Great Britain, were also adopted. 
John Dickerison, of Pennsylvania, prepared the 
petition to the king and the address to the in- 
habitants of Canada. His mild and persuasive 
tone was in strong contrast to the fire of some 
of the others ; for he was one who adhered to 
the hope to the last that the difficulties with the 
mother country could be reconciled. 

The first "committee of correspondence," to 
see that the non-importation agreement was car- 
ried into effect, was appointed in Philadelphia, 
soon after the dissolution of Congress. In all 
the colonies the recommendations of the Con- 
gress were endorsed by the provincial assemblies, 
New York and Georgia excepted, the Tory in- 
fluence proving able to postpone the measure in 
those colonies. In the Pennsylvania assembly 
the approval was by a decisive majority, and 
delegates were appointed to the next Congress, 
which was to assemble in May, 1775. Governor 
Penn remonstrated against the system of union 
which had been entered into, and recommended 
addresses by the several assemblies as the pro- 
per and constitutional mode of appealing to the 
crown. But the assembly of Pennsylvania de- 
clined to take any course except that which had 
been adopted by the united colonies. 

24 



278 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1774. 

The proceedings of the Americans caused 
much commotion in England, but the ministry 
were committed to the policy of force. Lord 
North brought forward a plan which was termed 
a scheme of conciliation, the effect of which was 
to leave the colonies the collection of the revenue, 
while Parliament dictated the amount ; thus 
clinging to the disputed right of Parliament to 
tax America, and still, as Lord North declared, 
yielding nothing of the matter in dispute. He 
acknowledged that he did not expect the colonies 
would accept it, but hoped to divide them by the 
proposition. The papers from Congress were 
received, but when the agents of the colonies 
desired to be heard by counsel, their request was 
refused, on the ground that Congress was an 
illegal assemblage. Parliament declared in an 
address to the throne, in answer to the royal 
speech, that rebellion already existed in Massa- 
chusetts, aided by unlawful corporations in other 
colonies. Acts were passed forbidding all the 
colonies, except New York, North Carolina and 
Georgia, to trade to any ports except those of 
Great Britain, L^eland, and the West Indies, 
and interdicting the prosecution of the fisheries. 
Against these measures Chatham, Burke and 
others eloquently but warmly protested. 

As much effort had been required in the as- 
sembly to procure favourable action upon the 
proceedings of the Congress, the committee ap- 



1774.] PROVINCIAL CONVENTION. 279 

pointed for Philadelpliia called a provincial 
convention, ostensibly to encourage domestic 
industry — really to keep the assembly up to 
their work. Joseph Keed, afterward prominent 
in the councils of Washington, was president of 
this convention. The measures recommended 
by it were in accordance with the patriotic spirit 
of the times, and a perpetual existence was given 
to the body by conferring upon the Philadelphia 
committee the power to call a provincial conven- 
tion whenever they deemed it necessary. This 
committee afterward assumed the power of giving 
direction to public movements, and supplying the 
guidance without which all popular impulses 
are inefTectual. The public sentiment was also 
expressed by them ; they became the exponents 
of popular opinion ; influenced the proceedings 
of the assembly, and counteracted the move- 
ments of the Friends, who, true to tneir prin- 
ciples, bore testimony '' against every measure 
and writing tending to break off the happy con- 
nection of the colonies with the mother country." 
But while the official epistles of the Friends bore 
this testimony, many individuals shared the zeal 
of the patriots, and determined at every hazard 
to defend the rights and liberties of America. 
Prominent in the convention was Thomas Mifflin, 
a young Quaker, afterward General Mifflin of 
revolutionary celebrity. 

Governor Penn transmitted the pacific pro- 



280 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1775. 

posal of Lord North to the assembly, with an 
earnest •recommendation that Pennsylvania 
should take the lead in " restoring public tran- 
quillity and rescuing both countries from the 
horrors of a civil war." The assembly answered 
by exceptions to Lord North's plan, and by de- 
claring that " were it unexceptionable they should 
deem it dishonourable to adopt it without the 
advice and consent of their sister colonies." So 
ended the hope of pacification in that mode. 
Lord North had meanwhile been attempting an 
indirect negotiation with Franklin in England ; 
but that shrewd statesman listened, demurred, 
and hopeless of any accommodation, embarked 
for his own country. 

The spring of 1775 found matters drawing to 
a crisis. The people of New England were 
drilling, arming and officering their militia, col- 
lecting warlike stores, and establishing military 
depots. To destroy one of these magazines. 
General Gage despatched a detachment of Bri- 
tish troops, eight hundred in number, from Bos- 
ton to Concord. They marched at midnight, 
and at sunrise found in Lexington a hundred 
"minute men" assembled. A collision took 
place, the British troops fired on the provincials, 
and this first revolutionary volley left eight men 
dead and wounded several more. The survivors 
dispersed, and the British pushed on to Concord, 
where they commenced the work on which they 



1775.] BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 281 

had been sent. But the gathering of the pro- 
vincial militia warned them of their danger, and 
as the Americans approached, now in a formid- 
able body, the regulars fired. The fire was re- 
turned and several of the soldiers killed. A 
hasty retreat was commenced, the militia fol- 
lowed up their advantage, suifering under an 
irregular but destructive fire from walls, trees, 
and houses, and the detachment was very much 
spent and jaded when it reached Lexington. 
There a reinforcement of nine hundred men, 
sent forward by General Gage from Boston, 
received and protected them ; and after a short 
halt the retreat was resumed. At the close of 
the day the regulars reached the vicinit}^ of 
Boston with a loss in killed and wounded of 
nearly three hundred men. The provincial loss 
was about ninety. 

Boston was instantly besieged, and Massa- 
chusetts and the New England states generally 
promptly organized levies of men. Philadelphia 
caught the spirit of resistance, even to the sword. 
The battle of Lexington took place on the 19th 
of April. On the 24th an immense meeting of 
citizens was convened at Philadelphia, at the 
call of the committee of correspondence. A 
military association was formed, and its branches 
extended through every county of the province. 
The members furnished themselves with arms, 
and were drilled by their officers in the use of 



282 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1775. 

them. Some of the young Friends in Philadel- 
phia organized a company, which was called 
"The Quaker Blues" in a spirit of competition 
with '< The Greens," which corps also numbered 
in its ranks many whose education and associa- 
tions had promised other views for them. 

On the 10th of May, 1775, the Continental 
Congress assembled in Philadelphia. Besides 
the Lexington affair the seizure of Ticonderoga 
and Crown Point had compromised the American 
colonies as rebels, and Congress was now em- 
boldened and empowered by public sentiment to 
assume the direction of hostile movements. 
Elected to provide for public exigencies, they 
found a war ready declared to their hands. The 
heat and precipitancy of the British forces, and 
the determined resistance of the New Englanders 
had brought the crisis. Congress resolved that 
hostilities had been commenced by Great Bri- 
tain ; and while they disclaimed any intention 
of throwing off their allegiance, and expressing 
an anxious desire for peace, they voted that the 
colonies ought to be put in a posture of defence 
against the attempt to coerce them by arms to 
submit to taxation. Mr. Dickinson, who was a 
member of this Congress, earnestly advocated, 
and carried another petition to the king, not- 
withstanding the fate of former memorials of the 
kind. The submissive tone and language of this 
paper was almost offensive to some of the mem- 



1777.] COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 283 

bers, particularly those from New England ; but 
the hio^h estimation in which Mr. Dickinson was 
held procured its passage. After Congress had 
adopted the paper, Mr. Dickinson rose and said, 
" There is but one word in that paper which I 
disapprove, Mr. President, and that word is Qon- 
gress:'' so anxious was he still to conciliate 
and avoid the appearance of concerted rebellion. 
Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, immediately retorted, 
«< There is but one word in the paper, Mr. Pre- 
sident, which I approve, and that word is Qon- 
gress." Dr. Franklin, who had just returned 
from Europe, was now a member. He had been 
dismissed from his oflSce of postmaster-general 
of the colonies by the British ministry ; and the 
royal mail having now nearly become useless. 
Congress assumed an act of sovereignty, little 
commented upon, but really significant, by the 
establishment of a post-office system, with Frank- 
lin for postmaster-general. 

The Pennsylvania assembly which was in ses- 
sion at the same time, recognised the acts of 
Congress and the acts of the people. The mili- 
tary association formed by the latter was ap- 
proved, and the assembly engaged to pay such 
of the members as should be called into actual 
service. They also took the important steps of 
appointing a Committee of Public Safety, with 
power to call the associated troops into service, 
to pay and support them, and to provide gene- 



284 HISTOKY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1777. 

rally for the military expenses and exigencies 
of the province. Bills of credit for thirty-five 
thousand pounds were issued for these purposes ; 
and other appropriations were made with a like 
object, all being placed in the control of the 
committee. The committee became in effect the 
executive power of the province, and Governor 
Penn's ofiice existed only in name. He prudently 
yielded to the force of public opinion, and was 
suffered to remain in quiet ; although when the 
royal army approached the city, in 1777, he was 
removed from it by the Whigs. Other loyalists 
did not fare so well. Several of the more ob- 
noxious were carted about the streets to the tune 
of the E^ogue's March, and others were put under 
duress. But beyond taunt and mortification 
they suffered no injury. 

While Congress was maturing its plans for a 
military organization, hostilities proceeded in 
Massachusetts. On the 14th of June, George 
Washington was unanimously chosen "general 
and commander-in-chief of the armies of the 
United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised 
or to be raised by them." On the 17th was 
fought the battle of Bunker Hill, in which, in 
dislodging the provincial troops from an eminence 
overlooking Boston, one thousand British troops, 
were killed or wounded. Four hundred and fifty 
of the provincials were killed, wounded, or made 
prisoners, and the village of Charlestown was 



1775.] STATE OF PARTIES. 285 

reduced to ashes. The breach was now irrepa- 
rable. The petition by Congress to the throne 
was contemptuously left unanswered, and nothing 
remained but to carry out the declaration of 
Congress. "We are reduced to the alternative 
of choosing an unconditional submission to the 
tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by 
force. The latter is our choice. We have counted 
the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dread- 
ful as voluntary slavery." 

The Pennsylvania Committee of Safety ap- 
plied to the assembly for aid in enforcing the 
rules of the military association which they had 
drawn up. This request was not acted upon at 
the spring session; but at their meeting in Octo- 
ber, the assembly, by resolution, converted the 
voluntary association into a compulsory militia. 
The Quakers and the Menonists remonstrated, 
but the resolutions passed notwithstanding. The 
proceedings of the Assembly of Pennsylvania 
appear difficult of comprehension without a re- 
view of the provincial politics of that period; 
and we avail ourselves of the clear narrative in 
the Life of President Reed, by his grandson, to 
place the condition of aifairs briefly before the 
reader. There were two well-defined parties — 
the friends of government and the revolutionary. 
/ In the former were royalists, those in the pro- 
1^^ ^.prietary interest, and the greater part of the 
Society of Friends./ Acting generally with the 



286 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1775. 

revolutionary party, but not prepared to go to 
extreme lengths, was a class of men earnestly 
devoted to the colonies, but still anxious to pro- 
cure a reconciliation. These men generally were 
in favour of continuing the charter institutions 
of the province, and of continuing the assembly 
even in the crisis of a revolution, if revolution 
became inevitable. Mr. Dickinson, who was 
earnest and active in conciliatory measures, pro- 
cured the passage of instructions to the dele- 
gates in Congress, (November, 1775,) to which, 
after directions to the delegates to use their ut- | 
most endeavours to obtain redress of American 
grievances, was added this sentence — very offen- ^ 
sive to the revolutionary party : '<■ Though the 4 
oppressive measures of the British Parliament '''j 
have compelled us to resist their violence by 
force of arms, yet we strictly enjoin you, that 
you, in behalf of this colony, dissent from and 
utterly reject any proposition, should such be 
made, that may cause or lead to a separation 
from our mother country, or a change of the 
form of this government." 

Such instructions ill accorded with popular 
sentiment after Lexington and Bunker Hill. 
And the body who passed them were above the 
influence of some of the most zealous of the 
''Sons of Liberty." A fifty -pound qualification^ 
w^as necessary to entitle citizens to vote, while 
conferences and provincial conventions imposed 



1776.] BOSTON EVACUATED. 287 

no such restrictions. War and revolution set 
aside conservation ; and the people, swayed by 
popular impulses, were disposed to apply the 
soldier's solution to all gordian knots. The 
assembly who passed the instructions to which 
we have just referred, were nevertheless com- 
pelled to yield to the outside pressure. Hence 
%}ie passage of the compulsory law in relation to 
military service, /so contrary to Pennsylvania^) 
precedents. On this the Committee of Safety 
insisted. The people demanded also an increase 
of the number of representatives. This measure 
was accorded to them. But parties were so 
nearly balanced in the house, that the casting 
vote of the speaker was necessary to authorize 
the raising of fifteen hundred men for the de- 
fence of the province. The friends of popular 
measures counted on better things when the new 
representatives came in. 

The operations of the war during the winter 
of 1775-6, were confined to the ultimately un- 
successful invasion of Canada and the siege of 
Boston. Spring brought high hopes to the pa- 
triots on the news of the evacuation of Boston 
by the British troops, which was considered as 
little less than a glorious victory. The assembly 
erected a court for the trial of prizes. Congress 
having declared all ships of war harassing the 
colonies, and all vessels bringing stores to the 
British, lawful prizes ; and requested the colonies 



288 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1776. 

to erect prize courts. Large emissions of cur- 
rency were made, and new fines were imposed on 
such as refused to do militia duty. These mea- 
sures look like concessions to preserve the as- 
sembly ; but they were inefi"ectual. On the 1st 
of May an election was held for a new assembly. 
The whole Whig ticket for the city, with one 
exception, was defeated; and the people, exaspe- 
rated at the weight of royal, proprietary, and 
pacific influence, under the existing state of 
things, became clamorous for a change. The 
anomaly of invading Canada, which had no share 
in these grievances, and of resisting those griev- 
ances in the colonies, while they still continued 
to administer government in his majesty's name, 
began to be discussed. Several colonies, under 
advice of Congress, had relieved themselves from 
the dilemma. In such provinces as required a 
summons from the governor to elect representa- 
tives, a change had become absolutely necessary. 
The Pennsylvania legislature was more inde- 
pendent. Elections were held on a stated day, 
the members convened at a time fixed by law, 
and sat on their own adjournment. The governor- 
had no power to prorogue or dissolve it ; and it 
was the belief of many patriots that it could still 
have been continued. The people were, however, 
resolved on a change. They wished a body en- 
tirely free from royal predilections. Congress 
helped to solve the dilemma. That body had 



1T76.] FIRST WAR ALARM. 289 

gone a step farther in relation to independence, | 
by declaring all British vessels lawful prizes. 1 
Rhode Island and Connecticut dispensed with \ 
the oath of allegiance to the king, in qualifying , 
their legislators. North Carolina authorized her I 
delegates in Congress to join with the others in I 
declaring the colonies independent. Virginia 
instructed her delegates to propose such a de- 
claration in Congress. And Congress almost 
simultaneously adopted a resolution recommend- 
ing to the assemblies and conventions of the 
colonies, in all cases where it had not already 
been done, to " establish governments adequate ; 
to their exigencies." A few days after (May- 
15th) Congress passed a preamble to the above' 
resolution, in which they declared that ''all oaths , 
for the support of government under the crown 
of Great Britain were irreconcilable with reason 
and good conscience, and that the exercise of 
every kind of authority under that crown ought 
to be totally suppressed ; and all the powers of 
government exerted, under authority from the : 
people of the colonies, for the maintenance of 
internal peace and the defence of their lives, | 
liberties, and properties against the hostile inva- \ 
sions and cruel depredations of their enemies." J 

About this time the first revolutionary gun 
was heard near Philadelphia. A flotilla of 
Philadelphia gun-boats had a smart engagement 
with a British sloop-of-war in the Delaware, and 

25 



290 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1770. 

compelled the sloop to haul farther down the 
river. The sound of guns at their doors waked 
the people. The proceedings of Congress gave 
the patriots a new impulse. The resolution and 
preamble of Congress were considered ''a dis- 
solution of the provincial government." It was 
determined "to call a convention with speed," 
and protest against the assembly doing any 
business until the "sense of the province" was 
taken. 

Some members of the assembly met on the 
20th of May, but no quorum was present. The 
people met on the same day, four or five thou- 
sand in number, in the State House Yard, and 
made their protest, which was, on that very day, 
presented to the house. The protest renounced 
in emphatic terms the authority of the assembly, 
as derived " from our mortal enemy, the king of 
Great Britain," and its members were "elected 
by persons in the real or supposed allegiance of 
the crown, to the exclusion of many whom the 
late resolves of Congress had rendered electors.'' 
This was a strong free suffrage point. The 
protest declared that as the assembly was a body 
of men by oaths of allegiance to the enemy, and 
many of. its members were under influence by 
pecuniary connection with the proprietary, it 
could not be trusted to model a government. On 
the other hand, counter memorials were present- 
ed; and the beleaguered assembly found rest 



1776.] ASSEMBLY RESCIND INSTRUCTIONS. 291 

principally in the fact that they seldom had a 
quorum for business. They directed a resolution 
of inquiry as to what Congress did mean, by its 
preamble and resolutions. The result of the 
inquiry is of the less consequence, since the peo- 
ple interpreted the matter for themselves. 

On the 14th of June, the assembly rescinded 
the obnoxious instructions — but in such terms 
that the members seem only to have communi- 
cated their perplexities to their delegates. Mean- 
while the delegates had already once acted under 
their former instructions. On the 7th of June,-] 
Richard Henry Lee moved, in obedience to the . 
Virginia instructions <' that the United Colonies [ 
are, and ought to be, free and independent j 
states, and that their connection with Great Bri- 1 
tain is and ought to be dissolved." It was car-> 
ried on the 8th, seven states to six — the delegates 
from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland 
voting against it under instructions; and those 
from New York, Delaware, and South Carolina 
not choosing, in the absence of positive instruc- 
tions, to take so decided a step. The matter was 
then postponed to the 1st of July, to give time 
for such correspondence with the various assem- 
blies as would secure union. Under the outside 
pressure, the Assembly of Pennsylvania suc- 
cumbed as above stated, and rescinded their pro- 
hibition of their delegates from voting for any 
measure which should lead to a change of go- 



292 HISTOBY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1776. 

vernment. But in the new instructions no posi- ■ 
tive directions on the main question were given. 
Independence was not referred to. The Penn- 
sylvania delegates were authorized to ''concur in 
forming: such further contracts between the 
united colonies, concluding such treaties with 
foreign kingdoms and states, and adopting such 
other measures, as, upon a view of all circum- 
stances, shall be judged necessary for promoting 
the liberty, safety, and interests of America; 
reserving to this colony the sole and exclusive 
right of regulating its internal government and 
police." This done, the assembly adjourned to 
the 26th of August. 

On the 18th of June, a provincial conference 
assembled at Philadelphia under a summons 
from the revolutionary committees of Philadel- 
phia county. This body, of which Colonel Tho- 
mas McKean was elected president, resolved 
that the then government of Pennsylvania was 
incompetent to manage its affairs, and issued an 
address, calling a convention to assemble on the 
15th of July next ensuing, to form a new govern- 
ment. No male of one-and-twenty, who had 
paid taxes, was excluded from voting for mem- 
bers of this convention, except such as had been 
published by the committees as enemies, and such 
as refused to make affirmation of non-allegiance 
to the king, and of friendship to the establish- 
ment of the new government. Members of the 



1776.] DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 293 

convention were required to make a declaration 
of religious faith, based on the Holy Scriptures, 
- and to bind themselves by oath or affirmation to 
renounce allegiance to Great Britain, and pro- 
mote the establishment of a government in the 
province on the authority of the people only. 

On the 28th of June, a British fleet made a 
demonstration against Charleston, South Caro- 
lina. The port was gallantly defended. Three 
of the British vessels, in attempting to take a 
position to rake the fort at Sullivan's Island, 
grounded on shoals. The others were so hotly 
received, that they were obliged to retire with 
severe loss. Of the three aground, one was 
abandoned and burned ; and the squadron, dis- 
comfited, set sail for New York to join the main 
body of the British forces. On the 1st of July, 
in Congress, the committee appointed to draft a 
declaration of independence, made their report. 
The committee consisted of Jefferson, John Ad- 
ams, Benjamin Eranklin, Roger Sherman, and 
Robert R. Livingston. Nine colonies voted for 
the declaration in committee of the whole. -'New 
York declined to vote, Delaware was divided. 
South Carolina stood one for and three against, 
and Pennsylvania, under the non-committal in- 
structions of the assembly, stood three for and 
four against the declaration. On the Fourth 
OF July, 1776, when the amended declaration 
came up for final action, the echo of the guns at 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1776.* 

Charleston brought South Carolina into line. 
Delaware, by the arrival of Cesar Rodney, vdio 
came eighty miles to vote, gave in her adhesion. 
Two of the adverse Pennsylvania delegation were 
absent, and thus that province ranked with the 
majority. New York did not vote. In a few 
days, the Provincial Congress of New York 
having given the Declaration their sanction, the 
instrument became the unanimous act of the 
Thirteen United States. It was then ordered 
to be engrossed on parchment for signature. 

On the 15th of July the cg;axfe&iion.of Penn- 
sylvania met to form the new constitution. 
Among their first acts was to elect delegates to 
Congress, superseding those already in that 
body by appointment of the legislature. Four 
of the old delegation were continued, three were 
left off, and five added, and the whole delegation, 
on the 2d of August, signed the Declaration of 
Independence. The convention was employed 
until the end of September in maturing the new 
constitution ; and on Saturday, the 28th, they 
perfected the instrument and adjourned, having 
given the document in charge to the Committee, 
of Safety, to be delivered to the general assem- 
bly at their first meeting under the new order 
of things. The convention also passed certain 
ordinances imposing a state tax, and authorizing 
arrests of suspicious persons. 

The charter legislature, adjourned to the 26th 



1776.] CHARTER GOVERNMENT EXTINCT. 295 

of August ; meet on that day, but only to ad- 
journ to the 23d of September. A bare quorum 
was present, but no business was done save the 
passage, under the previous question, of a series 
of resolutions, remonstrating against the assump- 
tion of legislative powers by the late convention 
which had assembled for a single specific pur- 
pose. The house then rose. The charter go- 
vernment was no more, and Pennsylvania was 
fully committed to the new order of things. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Arrival of General and of Admiral Howe at New York — 
Failure of a commission to treat with the colonies — Reading 
of the Declaration — The new State constitution — Retreat 
of Washington through New Jersey — Philadelphia menaced 
— The battles of Trenton and Princeton — Withdrawal of the 
British from Jersey— Landing on the Delaware — Battle of 
Brandywine — Aflair at Paoli — Occupation of Philadelphia 
by the British — Fortification of the Delaware — Removal of 
Congress inland — Battle of Germantown — The storming of 

H Fort Mercer — The British occupy Province Island — Forts 
Mifflin and Mercer evacuated by the Americans. 

It is a curious fact, that during the discussion 
of the subject of the Declaration of Independence, 
the thirteen United Colonies were free from Bri- 
tish troops. General Howe had retired from 
Boston to Halifax ; and the people of the colo- 



296 HISTORY OP PENNSYLVANIA. [1776 

nies were in doubt where the enemy would next 
make his appearance. The doubt was soon 
solved bj the arrival of General Howe at New 
York, and the subsequent arrival of large rein- 
forcements from England, under command of 
Admiral Lord Howe, the brother of the general, 
whose unfortunate beginnings in the vicinity of 
Boston led the colonists to feel' that their cause 
had already the prestige of success. A few days 
may make a great difference in the fate of na- 
tions. Lord Howe undertook to resume certain 
negotiations which had been commenced with 
Franklin, in England, for the pacification of the 
colonies. But the United Provinces had now, 
by the act of July 4th, become United States, 
and a question of etiquette prevented negotia- 
tion. The British commissioners refused to re- 
cognise the American authorities, military or 
civil, in their official capacity ; and the business 
of the mission was thenceforth at an end. The 
declaration had put the patriots in a new attitude, 
and they refused to compromise their position 
by any act or admission which should derogate 
from their rank, or invalidate the power which 
had appointed them to office. 

The declaration was publicly read in the 
State House Yard, Philadelphia, on the 8th of 
July, to an assembly of the people who had con- 
vened in pursuance of a call for that purpose. 
Captain Hopkins, of the navy, was the reader. 



1776.] FIRST STATE CONSTITUTION. 297 

The assembly was not large, nor was the declara- 
tion received with any evidence of enthusiasm. The 
people were generally familiar with its contents ; 
and the city of Philadelphia was, as we have 
already noted, the strong hold of the proprietary 
and loyal interests in the province. The great 
importance and the immediate momentous con- 
sequences of the measure were felt in the dis- 
ruption of old social and business relations. 
Without noisy enthusiasm, however, there was a 
fixedness of purpose which carried the patriotic 
inhabitants firmly through severe tests of their 
loyalty to the new government ; and if there was 
little excess of zeal manifested, there was, in the 
same moderation of spirit, a promise of justice 
and tolerance to those who adhered to the old 
order of things — whether as friends of the pro- 
prietaries or of the British government. 

The first constitution of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania had but a brief existence. Pennsylvania! 
was the first state to abolish the requirement of j 
a property qualification in the representatives f 
chosen. Dr. Franklin was president of the con- ' 
vention which framed it, and is supposed to have : 
been the mover of this democratic feature, and 
of the provision by which the legislative power 
was vested in one deliberative body. The mem- 
bers of the assembly were elected by counties. 
The executive power of the government was 
vested in a council 'chosen by the people, and 



298 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1776. 

the president of the council was president of the 
state ; but he had no more authority than the 
other counsellors. There was also a council of 
censors, who were empowered to meet once in 
every seven years, to investigate breaches of the 
constitution. The new constitution was strenu- 
ously opposed from the beginning ; and at the 
very first meeting of the legislature in 1776, it 
was found that the influence of the opposers of 
the constitution had been sufficient to apply a 
" veto," though the instrument gave that authority 
to no ong. There were not enough counsellors 
elected to organize the government. The diffi- 
culty was overcome in the spring of 1777, when 
the requisite number of councillors having been 
chosen, Thomas Wharton, Jr., was elected pre- 
sident, and George Brian, vice-president. 

The condition of the contest between the 
United States and Great Britain had now be- 
come gloomy indeed for the cause of freedom. 
Washington had slowly retreated before the Bri- 
tish forces through New Jersey, and Philadel- 
phia was menaced by the enemy. Under such 
circumstances, the party in that city which ad- 
hered to the royal cause exhibited such indica- 
tions of a disposition to take active measures, 
that vigilance was deemed necessary over them, 
as well as over the foreign foe. At this dark 
hour the hopes of the patriots were again raised 
by the surprise of Trenton, by General Wash- 



1776.] DETAILS OF THE WAR. 299 

ington in person, with a force of twenty-four 
hundred men. On the night of the 25th of De- 
cember, he crossed over from the Pennsylvania 
side, and with the loss of only ten or twelve men, 
in killed and wounded, made prisoners of a thou- 
sand Hessian soldiers. The loss of the enemy 
in killed and wounded was twenty. Six field- 
pieces and a thousand stand of small arms were 
taken. On the 3d of January occurred the 
affair at Princeton, in which the British lost one 
hundred men in killed and wounded. The Ame- 
ricans lost about one hundred. The great value 
of these operations to the American cause lay in 
their moral effect. The contrast between the 
appearance of the two armies, the forced retreat, 
and the apparent impossibility that the ill-clad 
and poorly-appointed American troops could 
cope with the fine-looking British regulars, was 
bringing hundreds to accept the British terms 
of pardon. These successes of the American 
arms did much to stay the disaffection to the 
American cause ; and the excesses of the British 
troops, who treated Jersey like a conquered pro- 
vince, did more. The year closed and the winter 
passed with better hopes for America than tho 
most sanguine had dared to hope while the 
American forces were retreating before the 
enemy during the fall of 1776 and the first 
week of winter. 

iPhiladelphia had not felt yet the actual pre- 



300 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1777. 

sence of the enemy, but had received monitions 
by the assembling of Congress in Baltimore, 
Philadelphia being deemed too insecure for calm 
deliberation. Early in 1777 it became evident 
that an attack on Pennsylvania was meditated; 
and the arrangements of General Washington 
were made with a view to that exigency, while 
his attention was also divided by other important 
points. Washington had lain in winter quarters 
at Morristown ; and as spring opened, and the 
enemy moved, he came out with caution, but did 
not hazard a general engagement, or suffer him- 
self to be drawn into an exposed situation. The 
plan of General Howe was, by arms and procla- 
mations, to complete the conquest of New Jersey, 
and, with that colony subdued and secured be- 
hind him, to occupy Philadelphia. The limits 
of our work do not permit us to describe all the 
manoeuvres and counter-manoeuvres. Suffice it 
to say, that finding it impossible to drive from 
the field a general who was cautious as well as 
skilful, the British abandoned New Jersey and 
returned to New York, their last marches being 
harassed by the militia, who needed only the 
assurance of support to rally in force. 

In July the British embarked at New York, 
and on the 27th of August landed at the head 
of Elk Creek. The British force has been esti- 
mated at eighteen thousand. The American was 
nominally fourteen or fifteen, but, on account 



1TT7.] BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE. SOI 

of poor equipment, did not exceed eleven thou- 
sand effective men. On the 11th of September 
the two armies found themselves a few miles 
apart, in the neighbourhood of the Brandywine, 
the Americans occupying the north and the 
British the south bank. An advanced party of 
the Americans, under General Maxwell, were 
posted in the wood leading to Chad's Ford, on 
the south side of the river. An engagement 
took place, in which, under the disadvantages of 
lesser numbers and poorer arms, the Americans 
were defeated. They laboured too under a diffi- 
culty peculiarly trying to raw troops. While a 
portion of the British force made a demonstration 
to cross Chad's Ford, the rest of the army moved 
higher up the river, and crossed. Uncertainty 
as to the purpose of the enemy caused some 
delay, and a portion of the American troops were 
attacked w^hile they w^ere taking their position to 
meet the advancing enemy, and being thus the 
more easily thrown into confusion were the first 
to break into retreat. But their retreat was 
checked and covered by reinforcements, and 
night-fall prevented a totally disastrous defeat. 
The column of the British army which attempted 
Chad's Ford was bravely resisted by General 
Wayne, until the defeat of the other portion of 
the American forces was discovered. Then, 
further resistance being useless, he retired, and 
the American army retreated to Chester. The 

26 



302 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1777. 

plan of the British was to attack the American 
front and rear at the same time. General Wash- 
ington perceived the manoeuvre, and made skilful 
preparations to counteract it ; but, unfortunately, 
the troops whose position was most in advance, 
failed to reach their post till too late to form in 
good order. A part of the American troops 
behaved very well, and others very badly — 
breaking almost at the first fire. Among the 
wounded was General Lafayette. The battle 
was not considered decisive, though the loss was 
more severe than in many other engagements. 
The loss of the British was six hundred, that of 
the Americans nine hundred in killed and 
wounded, as estimated by Marshall. Most of 
the wounded were made prisoners. So severe a 
loss indicates that some of the army must have 
courageously maintained their ground, since few 
were killed or taken during the retreat. 

After a few days of rest, Washington marched 
out from Chester, and a renewed engagement 
was about to take place, at a point some 
twenty miles from Philadelphia, when a heavy 
rain separated the combatants. Washington 
retired across the Schuylkill, leaving General 
Wayne with his division, to be joined by the 
Maryland militia under General Smallwood, and 
annoy the British rear. Wayne was encamped 
in a wood near Paoli, and information was given 
to the British general by some of the disaffected. 



1777.] AFFAIR AT PAOLI. 303 

He was suddenly attacked on the night of the 
20th September by a strong detachment, and 
compelled to retire with the loss of three hun- 
dred men. The Americans received their assail- 
ants with great intrepidity, but would inevitably 
have been cut off had it not been for the coolness 
and intrepidity of General Wayne, who promptly 
rallied a few regiments, who withstood the shock 
of the enemy and covered the retreat of the 
rest. General Smallwood's command, which 
was within a mile of the ground at the time of 
the attack, fled in confusion upon meeting a 
party of the British, who were returning from 
the pursuit of Wayne's detachment. This affair 
has acquired the name of the "Massacre at the 
Paoli," from the ruthless and cruel character of 
the officer who commanded the British party. 

With his troops worn by marches and counter- 
marches, poorly clad, almost without food, many 
without shoes, and unsupplied with tents, Wash- 
ington was unable to dispute the passage of the 
Schuylkill with the enemy, or to prevent his oc- 
cupying Philadelphia. On the 26th of Septem- 
ber the British entered Philadelphia, having 
been employed thirty days in accomplishing 
about sixty miles. The army which disputed 
the ground with this well-appointed force was 
inferior in numbers and in discipline, and devoid 
of almost every thing essential to efficient opera- 
tion. After the battle of Brandywine, that he 



304 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1778. 

was able to rally his forces, and in five days to 
offer battle again, is the highest evidence of the 
skill of the commander and of the devotion of 
the troops. If they failed in efficiency and even 
broke in disorder, these were the misfortunes of 
their want of discipline and of munitions. But 
under all there was the animus of a sublime pa- 
triotism, which could still make such a body of 
men cohere under circumstances so disheartening. 

The royal army was received in Philadelphia 
by the disaffected with transports of joy. The 
winter of 1778 was spent in great festivities, and 
the impression now became strong, with those 
who wished such an event, that the efforts of 
America for independence were effectually 
closed. Spring was looked forward to as the 
termination of the struggle. Meanwhile the 
more sedate and thoughtful of the patriots were 
not disheartened. It is reported of Franklin, 
then absent on a mission to France, that when 
he was told the British had taken Philadel- 
phia, he answered that this was not the way to 
state the case. Philadelphia, he said, had taken 
the British. The event proved that the occupa- 
tion of the city by the British commander did 
the royal cause no benefit. 

Congress having by resolution invested Gene- 
ral Washington with extraordinary powers, re- 
moved to Lancaster immediately after the battle 
of the Brandywine. They thence removed again 



1778.] FORTIFICATION OF THE DELAWARE. 305 

to York. Before the entrance of the British 
into Philadelphia, all public stores had been re- 
moved, and suitable articles for army use, found 
in private hands, were also taken, and receipts 
given to the owners. The Delaware River was 
obstructed with sunken frames of timber, and 
fortifications were erected on the Jersey shore, 
and on an island in the river at the junction of 
the Schuylkill, in order to prevent communica- 
tion between the British fleet and the city. 
Abov^e the forts were floating batteries and 
armed vessels ; and it was strongly hoped that 
by these means the enemy might still be com- 
pelled to evacuate the city. Four regiments of 
the British only were quartered in the city, and 
the main body of the army was encamped at 
Germantown. Washington's camp was on the 
Skippack Creek, fourteen miles from German- 
town. 

The first care of Lord Cornwallis, after enter- 
ing Philadelphia, was to erect batteries to defend 
the river front of the city and operate against 
the American shipping. These batteries were 
attacked by two American frigates, and several 
gallies and gondolas, while yet incomplete. One 
of them, the Delaware, unfortunately grounded 
and was captured, the other vessels fell down to 
Fort Mifflin, as the fort on Mud Island was 
named. The British got possession of a fort on 

the Jersey side, below the mouth of the Schuyl- 

2fi* 



306 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1778. 

kill, and the only hope of the Americans now lay 
in Forts Mifflin and Mercer, at the junction of the 
Schuylkill. While the British were operating 
against these points, and employing troops in 
escorting trains of provisions up from Chester, 
Washington determined to surprise their camp 
at Germantown. 

The battle of Germantown took place on the 
morning of the 4th of October. Two columns, 
marching all night, gained the enemy's rear. 
The surprise was complete, and for a short time 
they carried every thing before them. An attack 
was to have been made at the same time on the 
front by two other detachments. But the morn- 
ing was foggy, and the advance was irregular, 
owing to the necessary obstructions which a town 
presented, and the darkness was such that the 
American officers could not understand their 
position. A detachment of the British threw 
themselves into a large stone house, since well 
known in Revolutionary annals as Chew's house. 
It stood directly in front of the advancing Ame- 
ricans, and from its windows were poured disas- 
trous volleys. After some unsuccessful attempts 
to take the house by storm, and an ineffectual 
cannonading, the assailing party left the British 
in possession and passed on. But the command- 
ing position and strength of the building enabled 
its garrison seriously to annoy and separate the 
Americans; nor could order be restored, or the 



1778.] BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 307 

corps thus divided be united. The battle com- 
menced about daylight, and continued until after 
ten o'clock. The retreat soon after commenced, 
and was made without loss, the enemy not hav- 
ing recovered sufficiently to pursue or annoy the 
Americans. The loss of the British in this en- 
gagement was about six hundred, that of the 
Americans over a thousand, including four hun- 
dred prisoners. The attack was well planned ; 
but depended upon the concurrence of so many 
circumstances for a successful issue that the 
result is not to be wondered at. The effect was 
good upon the spirits of the army ; for a well- 
contested battle and skilful retreat is better than 
inactivity. It was so near a defeat to the Bri- 
tish in the beginning that it enforced respect for 
the continental troops. It was so near a dis- 
astrous route to the Americans at the close, that 
it taught them the absolute need of discipline. 
The news of the capture of Burgoyne and his 
army was now received. The heart of the Ame- 
rican patriots was reassured, and courage and 
fortitude were strengthened to meet the severe 
trials of the memorable winter of 1777-8. 

The British forces were now drawn nearer to 
Philadelphia, the importance of concentration 
having been discovered, in the face of an army 
whose chief fault, want of perfect discipline, 
was wearing off every day. The position of the 
British army was becoming critical. Nearly two 



308 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1778. 

months had now passed since the landing in the 
Delaware, and the British troops, though in no- 
minal possession of Philadelphia, had no com- 
munication with their fleet, and could not move' 
out of the city except in strong bodies. Every 
foraging party was strongly guarded, and the 
conveying of supplies from the British ships 
overland required the defence of large bodies 
of troops. Under these circumstances Howe 
determined on a vigorous attack on the Delaware 
fortifications. On the 23d of October, Count 
Donop, with twelve hundred picked men, crossed 
over from Philadelphia, marched down the Jersey 
side, and stormed Fort Mercer at Bed Bank, 
which post was garrisoned by two Rhode Island 
reo;iments under Greneral Greene. At the same 
time several British vessels of war ascended the 
river, so far as the obstructions would admit. 
Colonel Donop fell mortally wounded, and the 
attack on the fort was repulsed with a loss to the 
British of four hundred men. Of the British' 
vessels which co-operated in the attack, the Au- 
gusta sixty-four was blown up, the frigate Merlin 
was burned, and the other vessels returned with 
heavy loss. The flotilla in the Delaware, belong- 
ing in part to the State of Pennsylvania, was 
commanded by Colonel Haslewood, who held his 
commission under the state. It did excellent 
service, though disputes, which are so apt to 
spring up between the land and naval service, 



1777.] FORT MIFFLIN EVACUATED. 309 

required skilful mediation on the part of the 
commander-in-chief. Congress, after the repulse 
of the British at Red Bank, presented to Colonel 
Greene, who commanded at Fort Mercer, to 
Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, who commanded Fort 
Mifflin, and to Commodore Hazlewood, each a 
sword, in testimony of their high appreciation 
of their services. 

Reinforcements were received by the British 
from New York, and vigorous measures were 
taken to remove the obstructions of the Delaware. 
But Sir William Howe proceeded with more cau- 
tion, since the affairs at Germantown and Red 
Bank had shown him that he had to deal with no 
contemptible enemy. On the 10th of November 
he took possession of Province Island, on which, 
within five hundred yards of Fort Mifflin, he 
erected a battery of twenty-four and thirty-two 
pounders. With these an incessant battery was 
kept up for several successive days. The garri- 
son was relieved every forty-eight hours ; but so 
weak was the battalion appointed to relieve them, 
that half the men were constantly on duty. 
When the works on the island were.at last entirely 
dismantled, and by an alteration in the channel, 
the enemy's ships could approach within a hun- 
dred yards of the fort, the position had at last 
to be abandoned. It had been defended with a 
heroism, and an endurance of suffering and 
fatigue unexceeded by any troops during the 



310 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1777. 

war. On the night of the 16th the garrison 
was withdrawn, and a detachment from the Bri- 
tish army took possession. Preparations were 
now made By General Washington to defend 
Fort Mercer at Red Bank; but before the rein- 
forcements detailed for that service could reach 
the ground, Lord Cornwallis approached with so 
formidable a force that the Americans evacuated 
the fort. The flotilla on the river was destroyed, 
a few of the vessels escaping, the others being 
destroyed by their crews ; and, after a struggle 
of about two months from their entrance into 
Philadelphia, the British forces had at last secure 
possession by a free communication with their 
fleet. Every step, from their landing in August 
to the complete possession of the city on the 
17th of November, was obstinately contested ; 
and in no period of the war were General Wash- 
ington's services more useful to his country, 
though in none was he exposed to more carping 
and censure. The patriots of Pennsylvania de- 
serve high praise, since they had to work in the 
face of a large body of the disafiected. 



1777.] ATTEMPTED SURPRISE. 311 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Attempted surprise of Washington's camp — Skirmishing and 
retreat of the British — Manner in which the Americans 
were warned — Encampment at Valley Forge — Destitution 
and distress of the army — Embarrassment of the countr)^ — 
Treaties with France — Lord North's proposition to Franklin 
— His proposed measures of conciliation — Lord North's pro- 
positions circulated in America — Resolutions of Congress — 
Foraging operations of the British — Narrow escape of La- 
fayette — Evacuation of Philadelphia — Battle of Monmouth 
■ — Arrival of British commissioners — Refusal of Congress to 
treat with them — Tampering with individuals — Departure 
of the commissioners — Wyoming — Unadilla — Cherry Val- 
ley — British conquest of Georgia and South Carolina — 
Revolt of the Pennsylvania and Jersey troops — Turn of 
affairs at the South — The Cowpens — Guilford — Yorktown 
— Close of the war. 

General Washington was now (December, 
1777) joined by troops from the army which had 
conquered Burgoyne, and was encamped at 
Whitemarsh. The British had a chain of posts 
strongly fortified, from the Delaware to the 
Schuylkill. On the evening of the 4th of De- 
cembcx, the British force marched out of Phila- 
delphia with the intention of surprising Wash- 
ington in his camp. But at eleven o'clock the 
British advance found themselves smartly at- 
tacked, and were compelled to change their line 
of march, the attacking party worrying them for 
several hours, and possessing, apparently, a know- 



312 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1777. 

ledge of the number and intentions of tlie British 
while their own force and movements were not 
understood. Other skirmishes took place during 
the night, without any other effect than warning 
the British commander that his intention of a 
surprise was discovered. The next day the two 
armies manoeuvred in front of each other, neither 
willing to relinquish the advantage of position. 
A smart skirmish occurred, but it was on such 
unfavourable ground that General Washington 
declined to risk a general engagement. During 
the evening the intention of the enemy appeared 
to be to make an attack on the following morn- 
ing ; but on the afternoon of the next day the 
British force suddenly retreated to Philadelphia, 
having lost over a hundred men, and suffered the 
implied defeat of marching out to attack and 
returning without an engagement. The secret 
of General Howe's movements is since explained 
by a fragment of private history. Some of Ge- 
neral Howe's staff used a room in the house of 
"William Danack, in Second street below Spruce, 
for oiEcial conference. Lydia, the wife of Wil- 
liam, overheard the order read for the surprise 
of Washington on the night of the 6th, and 
managed, at the peril of her life, to convey the 
intelligence to an American officer. She ob- 
tained permission to cross the lines to purchase 
flour at Frankfort, and meeting an American 
officer whom she knew, communicated to him the 



1778.] VALLEY FORGE. 313 

secret. Hence came the unexpected prepara- 
tion which the British army encountered, and 
the defeat of the intended surprise. 

Some of the more adventurous of Washing- 
ton's officers strongly advised an attack upon 
Philadelphia, but such an undertaking was deem- 
ed by him too formidable, and even if successful, 
involving too great a loss of life and property. 
His military talents were disputed, and intrigue 
and cabal were resorted to to influence his 
judgment, or to remove him from the command; 
but his firmness prevented any yielding on his 
part, and the affection of his army and the 
prestige of his high character protected him 
against faction. He persevered in his wise and 
cautious policy, and went into winter-quarters 
at Valley Forge. Here huts wxre constructed, 
and all the order of a regular encampment was 
preserved, except the substitution of log-houses 
for tents. Here the army throughout the win- 
ter endured privations and distress which, under 
any commander save one to whom they were 
devotedly attached, like Washington, must have 
resulted in mutiny. Washington made earnest 
appeals to Congress in behalf of his troops ; and 
in one of his letters says : ^' For some days there 
has been little less than a famine in camp. A 
part of the army have been a week without any 
kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. 
Naked and starving as they are, we cannot 

27 



314 HISTORY OP PENNSYLVANIA. [1778. 

enough admire the incomparable patience and 
fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not ere 
this been excited to mutiny and dispersion. 
Strong symptoms of discontent have, however, 
appeared in particular instances." 

A large part of the army were absolutely con- 
fined to their huts for want of clothing ; blankets 
and straw even were so scarce that men were 
often compelled to keep themselves warm by the 
fire through the night. In this state of destitu- 
tion, the commander-in-chief still managed to 
keep up such an appearance of strength as to 
deceive the enemy, and compel him to forage 
only under strong escorts. But had the British 
moved out in force, the American army must 
have been destroyed. Nominally exceeding 
seventeen thousand men, the effective force in 
camp was only about five thousand. Four thou- 
sand were reported unfit for duty for want of 
clothes. The hospitals were full, and a violent 
putrid fever swept oif great numbers. The suf- 
ferings of the army were somewhat alleviated in 
February, a committee of Congress having visited 
the camp, and more energetic measures being 
taken. The American commissariat laboured 
under the disadvantage of having only conti- 
nental paper to offer, while the British paid in 
gold ; and Washington was compelled to the harsh 
expedient of commanding the seizure of corn and 
cattle wherever they could be found, giving the 



1776.] EMBARRASSMENT OF THE COUNTRY. 315 

owners certificates for the property taken. He 
was also active in cutting oiF the supplies intend- 
ed for Philadelphia, whenever practicable ; and 
the vigilance and activity of the American scout- 
ing parties intercepted a large portion of the 
provisions destined for the British camp. 

It must not be supposed that it was throup-h 
any indifi'erence of Congress to the state of the 
service that the condition of the troops became 
so deplorable. The non-importation agreements 
which had been entered into, and rigidly enforced 
before the commencement of hostilities, very 
much reduced the quantity of manufactured 
goods in the country, and the war had suspended 
foreign commerce. The continental currency 
had depreciated to such a low value that it had 
almost ceased to be a tender for purchases, and 
no legislation could give it value while new 
issues continued and hastened its depreciation. 
The nominal pay of officers and soldiers bore no 
proportion to the actual value of the bills ; and 
the finances of the confederation were in a most 
deplorable condition, while the British officers 
and agents had abundance of gold and silver at 
their command. The articles of confederation 
between the States had not as yet been agreed 
upon ; and we can only wonder that the country 
was able to keep up any show of union and re- 
sistance, rather than be surprised at the ineffi- 
ciency of the means of defence and aggression. 



316 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. J [1778. 

With the duration of the war, people had become 
more unanimous in supporting it. Its progress 
had compromised them beyond the hope of re- 
covery. The measures taken by Great Britain 
had imbittered her former subjects into unre- 
lenting enmity; and even the barbarities of 
partisan warfare, in which friendships became 
enmities, and old neighbours and even friends 
and relatives were imbittered, aided to keep up 
the spirit of war and resistance. Thus, while 
the sentiment of patriotism had its value with 
the better class, and Avith all classes in their 
better moments, other and more immediate ex- 
citing causes were continually in operation. 

While the state of affairs was so unfortunate 
in America, in Europe important events were 
taking place of a far different and encouraging 
character. The American commissioners in 
France had succeeded at last in obtaining a 
public recognition. In the month of December, 
1776, Franklin arrived in Paris, to join Silas 
Dean and Arthur Lee, who were already there. 
In February, 1778, a treaty of commerce between 
France and America was signed in Paris, as also 
a conditional treaty of alliance, contingent upon 
the declaration of war against France by Great 
Britain. Aid had already been obtained inform- 
ally and indirectly ; and the commissioners had 
built two frigates, one at Amsterdam and one 
at Nantes. Money had been advanced and 



1778.] TREATIES WITH FRANCE. 317 

munitions of war shipped to America. The 
British ministry was of cours«e well aware of all 
these proceedings, and the negotiations between 
the commissioners and the French ministry were 
conducted on the supposition that war must re- 
sult. Lord North was not inattentive to his old 
acquaintance, Franklin, and appealed to him by 
a succession of agents, one after another. These 
agents offered various propositions, none of which 
came up to Franklin's knowledge of the require- 
ments and desires of the American people. The 
effort was made to prevent or to defeat the alli- 
ance between France and America. The French 
court was also appealed to, and all the acts of 
diplomacy were employed, though without suc- 
cess, to cause jealousy and suspicion between 
France and America. 

Simultaneously with these attempts to treat 
with the revolted colonies through their commis- 
sioners. Lord North brought forward in Parlia- 
ment two bills, one renouncing on the part of 
Great Britain any intention to tax America, and 
the other appointing three commissioners, to act 
with the two British commanders-in-chief in 
America, in negotiating with the Americans for 
the re-establishment of the royal authority. This 
step of Lord North's, and the accounts which had 
been received in Paris of the capture of Bur- 
goyne, and the bold and creditable movements of 
the American army in Jersey and in Pennsvl- 

27* 



318 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1778. 

vania, determined tlie French cabinet, and the 
American commissioners were apprized of the 
readiness of the French government to form an 
alliance. The business was speedily accom- 
plished ; and the American commissioners had 
the high happiness to find their country formally 
recognised as an independent power. 

While the bills of Lord North were still under 
discussion, draughts of their contents were trans- 
mitted to America, and the loyalists were active 
in circulating them. Congress immediately re- 
ferred the subject to a committee, whose report, 
ably dissecting the propositions, was forthwith 
published, together with the bills, in the news- 
papers. This report concluded with a resolution, 
unanimously passed, which declared all who 
should attempt a separate treaty the enemies 
of their country ; and that no conference should 
be held with any commissioners till the British 
armies were withdrawn, or the independence of 
the United States was acknowledged. Early in 
May the treaties with France were received, 
instantly ratified by Congress, and received by the 
people with transports of joy. Now the cause 
of independence seemed no longer doubtful. In 
March the British limbassador was recalled from 
Paris, which act was equivalent to a declaration 
of war. 

Early in the spring of 1778, the enemy, restive 
under his state of siege in Philadelphia, began 



1778.] PHILADELPHIA EVACUATED. 319 

to make foraging excursions. A large part of 
Jersey was laid waste, and some unfinished ves- 
sels and military stores were destroyed at Bor- 
dentown. Washington was not in force success- 
fully to arrest these movements, but General 
Lafayette was detached with two thousand choice 
troops to take post near the lines, both as an 
advance guard for the American army, and to 
annoy the British rear should the enemy at- 
tempt a retreat from Philadelphia, as was now 
expected. By a change of position in a body of 
troops, of which Lafayette was unaware, the 
young general's rear was left unguarded, and he 
was almost surprised while encamped at Barren 
Hill. By most skilful and prompt manoeuvres, 1/ 
Lafayette retreated in good order. 

Sir William Howe, early in June, resigned his 
command and embarked for England. He was 
succeeded by Sir Henry Clinton, and thus es- 
caped the mortification of the evacuation of 
Philadelphia, which the British ministry now 
directed, as it was not a post tenable against the 
maritime power of France. On the 18th of 
June the British army marched out of the city 
and crossed over to Jersey. They were followed 
so close by Captain McLane, an active partisan 
ofiicer, that he managed to cut off and captm^e 
thirty-three men, including a captain and a pro- 
vost-marshal, without the loss of a man. Wash- 
ington having called in his detachments, and made 



320 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1778. 

all preparations for harassing the march of the 
retreating foe, crossed over into Jersey, post- 
ing himself with his usual caution, so that he 
might keep the choice of bringing on or of avoid- 
ing an action. 

The incidents of the retreat through New 
Jersey belong to the history of that State. Suffice 
it to say that the march occupied a little over 
two weeks, and that, including desertions, the 
British loss was not less than two thousand men. 
This, however, was better for the royal cause 
than 'the loss of the whole army, which would 
inevitably have taken place if the French fleet 
had not been delayed by adverse winds to the 
extraordinary passage of eighty-seven days. The 
battle of Monmouth, one of the most severely 
contested during the Revolution, occurred during 
this march, on an oppressively hot day, the 28th 
of June. In the early part of the day the ad- 
vantage was wath the British — in the latter part 
with the Americans. The latter maintained their 
ground, resting on the field with their arms in 
their hands ; while during the night the enemy 
retreated, with such silence and skill, that their 
disappearance was not known till daylight. The 
American loss in this engagement was about two 
hundred men, the British a hundred more. 

While the retreat from Philadelphia was going 
forward, the commissioners appointed under ^ 
Lord North's bill were endeavouring to effect an 



1778.] BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 321 

arrangement with Congress. The terms offered 
were such as would have checked the war in its 
commencement if then offered, being no less 
than a total abandonment of the pretensions 
which had led to resistance and ultimate hostili- 
ties. And, in addition to this, it was proposed 
to give the colonies greater commercial privileges 
than they had ever enjoyed, and a representa- 
tion in the British Parliament. But the tenders 
came too late. People were exasperated and 
distrustful. The colonies were not only pledged 
to independence to each other, but a separate 
national existence was the basis of the treaties 
with France. A passport to visit Congress was 
refused to the secretary of the commission ; and 
when the commissioners forwarded to Congress 
a copy of their instructions, and an address in 
which they proposed a suspension of hostilities,- 
they were briefly answered that no treaty could 
be entered upon until the British troops were 
withdrawn or the independence of the United 
States was acknowledged. While thus unsuc- 
cessful with Congress, the commissioners tried 
their skill and powers of blandishment over indi- 
viduals. Letters of introduction were brought 
by one of the members of the commission to 
Robert Morris, Joseph Reed, and others. To 
these gentlemen he wrote, urging the expediency 
of an adjustment of the quarrel, and more than 
hinting high honours and rewards to those who 



322 HISTORY OF Pennsylvania. [1778. 

should be instrumental in effecting it. These 
letters were laid before Congress, as was also a 
statement by Joseph Eeed, that a distinct offer 
of ten thousand pounds, and his choice of any 
office in the colonies, had been made to him for 
his services. Reed replied to these overtures, 
that "he was not worth purchasing; but, such 
as he was, the King of England was not rich 
enough to buy him." Resolutions were passed 
by Congress based on these facts, and declining 
to hold any further correspondence with the 
commission, one of whose members at least was 
guilty of an attempt at bribery. The commis- 
sioners replied through the press, and addressed 
a manifesto to the public, in which, after appeal- 
ing to sectional and religious prejudices, and to 
the old national hatred of France, they allowed 
forty days for submission, and threatened, at the 
close of that period, that the desolation of the 
country would be a leading object of the war. 
Congress caused this document to be published 
in the papers, with replies official and unofficial. 
The forty days passed without submission, and 
the foiled commissioners returned to Europe. 

The war on the part of the British now as- 
sumed a cruel and wanton character, in keeping 
with the desolation threatened. New Bedford, 
Fairhaven, and Egg Harbour were burned, and 
quarter was refused in some instances to detach- 
ments of American troops which were surprised 



1778.] MASSACRE OF WYOMING. 323 

or overpowered. Indications of Indian warfare 
at the West betrayed the influence of British 
emissaries, often American Tories, whose enmity 
was unappeasable, they having been sufferers 
and acting under the stimulus of revenge. *A 
party of Indians and Tory refugees fell in July 
upon the settlement at Wyoming. The settle- 
ment had been deprived of its able men by the 
raising of two companies for the continental 
army, and the rumours of Indian hostilities had 
caused a third company to be raised as a local 
garrison. Before the necessary preparations 
were complete, Colonel Butler, with a company 
of Tories and Indians, appeared in the valley. 
There were two forts, one of which surrendered 
at once. The company of continental troops 
marched out to meet the enemy, but were de- 
feated. Driven back, as many as could took 
refuge in Fort Wyoming, while those who fell 
into the hands of the Indians were put to death 
with terrible cruelty. The fort was summoned 
to surrender, which it did after opportunity had 
been given for the continental soldiers to escape, 
since against them the Indians and Tories had a 
bloodthirsty enmity. Security was promised by 
Colonel Butler to life and property ; but his un- 
manageable Indians, full of long-cherished hatred, 
would not be controlled. They burned and de- 
stroyed all the property which was destructible, 
murdered whoever retreated, and the women and 



324 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1780. 

cliildren took refuge from tlieir barbarity in 
flight. This melancholy event has been made 
familiar in the verse of one of the most widely- 
read of modern poets. In retaliation, a Penn- 
sylvania regiment stationed at Schoharie de- 
stroyed the settlement of Unadilla, occupied by 
Tories and Indians, and they in their turn de- 
stroyed Cherry Valley, though the garrison held 
out against the attack. 

These events were the last serious traces of 
war in the limits of Pennsylvania. The scene 
of warfare was now changed to the southern por- 
tion of the confederacy. Georgia was overrun 
and conquered ; and for the first time since the 
commencement of the war the British rule was 
re-established in one of the colonies. An abor- 
tive attempt to recover Savannah, by the Ame- 
ricans, cost nearly a thousand men, including 
, the brave Pulaski. The French allies bore the 
larger portion of this loss. Charleston next fell, 
after several months resistance ; Gates's '^North- 
ern laurels were changed into Southern willows" 
at the battle of Camden ; the southern army was 
totally dispersed, and South Carolina was claimed 
as a conquered state. No sign of resistance now 
remained except in partisan warfare, in which 
bands of loyalists and republicans pursued each 
other in all the fury of fraternal hate. Next 
came the treachery of Arnold, happily frustrated, 
but still shaking the public confidence in a man- 



1781.] MUTINY AT PRINCETON. 325 

ner in which it had never before been so deeply 
disturbed. 

The year 1781 opened with prospects gloomy 
indeed. The Pennsylvania line, in their winter- 
quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, broke out 
into open revol|. They were enlisted for three 
years and the war, and insisted that the terms 
were three years or the war ; their construction 
of the terms of enlistment giving them the right 
to demand their discharge, which they did de- 
mand. They left the encampment, having killed 
an officer who attempted to restrain them, and 
marched toward Princeton. General Wayne, 
with wise prudence, sent provisions after them 
to prevent their plundering the people for a sub- 
sistence, and himself followed and endeavoured 
to control them. This he was able in some de- 
gree to do, not by his authority as an officer, 
which was no longer heeded, but by his- great 
personal popularity. But amid their exaspera- 
tion they did not forget their loyalty to their 
country. British emissaries who ventured among 
them with proposals to desert the American 
cause were arrested by them and detained. 
President Keed, of Pennsylvania, met them at 
Princeton, and acted as mediator between the 
revolted troops and a committee of Congress. 
They were offered and accepted an immediate 
supply of clothing, certificates for their arrears 
of pay, and a discharge of such as would make 

28 



326 HISTORY OF Pennsylvania. [1781. 

oath that by the terms of enlistment they were 
entitled to it. Nearly all were thus discharged, 
and the luckless British emissaries, being given 
up by the soldiers, were tried by court-martial 
and hung as spies. The New Jersey line, follow- 
ing the evil example, were urged by a committee 
of the leojislature of *the state to return to their 
duty. The greater number refused, and Wash- 
ington, fearful of the contagion of the revolt, 
overwhelmed the whole line by a superior force. 
Three of the ringleaders were tried by court- 
martial, and sentenced to death. One was re- 
prieved, and the others were shot on the field, 
the executioners being drawn from their own 
companies. In a few months the Pennsylvania 
line was nearly up to its old standard of num- 
bers by new recruits. 

Affairs in the South began to wear a better 
aspect. Arnold ravaged Virginia, but Morgan 
and Greene in the South began to rally the 
Whigs. The victory over Tarleton at <' the 
Cowpens," gained by Morgan, the rapid evolu- 
tions of the American army, the hardly-contested 
field of Guilford Court House, and the bold dash 
at South Carolina which Greene made, demon- 
strated that proclamations and appointments of 
royal officers could not re-establish the British 
rule. While Greene pushed to the South, Corn- 
wallis advanced into Virginia. Greene recovered 
nearly the whole of South Carolina. A melan- 



1782.] CLOSE OF THE WAR. 327 

choly and ferocious aspect was given to the war 
in the South by the rule adopted by the British 
of shooting such as had once taken the royal 
protection, and afterward were found in arms 
against them. Colonel Hayne, a distinguish- 
ed citizen of Charleston, was the victim of 
this cruel and impolitic course, and great excite- 
ment was created by it. Retaliatory executions 
took place and the partisan troops were exaspe- 
rated to new cruelties. 

Cornwallis joined the British forces in Vir- 
ginia under Phillips, and after a variety of 
marches, watched by Lafayette and "Wayne, es- 
tablished his head-quarters at Yorktown and 
Gloucester. Here he removed his whole force 
in July, having destroyed property to the value 
of ten or twelve millions of dollars ; and here, 
in September, he capitulated to the combined 
American and French armies, seven thousand 
men surrendering themselves as prisoners of 
war. Wilmington, North Carolina, was next 
evacuated by the British. In January, 1782, 
Greene, with reinforcements from Virginia, shut 
up the enemy in Charleston. In July, Augusta 
was evacuated, and in December, Charleston. 
Active operations had been for some time sus- 
pended between the main armies, as negotiations 
for peace were understood to be in progress. In 
April a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed. 
On the 3d of September the treaty was ratified ; 



328 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1783. 

and on the 2d of November orders were issued 
to disband the army. A small force was still 
retained, and this had the honour, on the 25th 
of November, 1783, to take possession of New 
York, evacuated by the British. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Treason trials — Benedict Arnold — President Reed — Difficulties 
of his position — Philadelphia benevolence — The Wilson 
riot — Extinguishment of the Penn titles — Gradual abolition 
of slavery — Articles of confederation — Difficulties of govern- 
ment — Wtate of the public mind — Discontent in the army — 
Noble conduct of the disbanded troops — Emeute in Phila- 
delphia — Military heroes — Franklin — Morris — Bank of 
North Amei-ica — Indian difficulties 

The state government of Pennsylvania and 
the Continental Congress returned to Philadel- 
phia when the British evacuated that city. Most 
of those persons notoriously in the British in- 
terest retired with the army. Among them was 
Galloway, prominent in the provincial history 
of Pennsylvania, who had joined the British in 
New Jerse}^, and came with them on their en- 
trance into the city. He went shortly afterward 
to Eno-land, and remained there until his death 
in 1803. Others not so wise, or not so far com- 
mitted, remained, and some thirty bills of in- 
dictment were found against them under the law 



1778.] TREASON TRIALS. 329 

of the state against treason. Twenty-three were 
tried and acquitted ; two, John Roberts and 
Abraham Carlisle, were convicted and executed. 
Party feeling ran to a bitter pitch of exaspera- 
tion, which was greatly increased by this stern- 
ness and rigour, and the efi*ects of it undoubtedly 
embarrassed the government of Pennsylvania for 
many years. Every effort was made to save 
these men from the extreme sentence of the law. 
Joseph Reed, who had been employed to assist 
the attorney-general in the prosecution, used his 
influence, but in vain. The executive council 
refused to interfere; and the two men suffered 
the extreme penalty on the commons, near Phila- 
delphia, on the 4th of November, 1778. These 
were the only executions for treason which ever 
took place in Pennsylvania. One other person 
had been executed by the civil authorities as a 

spy. 

When Benedict Arnold was appointed to the 
military command in Philadelphia, his peculations 
and evident Tory predilections subjected him to 
suspicion and complaint. Joseph Reed, who 
had now succeeded to the office of president of 
the executive council, was among those who de- 
tected and exposed his mal-practices, though no 
one supposed, as was the fact, that the traitor 
was even then engaged in correspondence with 
the enemy. His conduct was represented to 
Congress, and a court-martial was ordered. 

38* 



330 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1779. 

Acquitted of the more serious charges, he was 
found guilty on two minor points, and repri- 
manded. While he remained in Philadelphia he 
was a source of great annoyance to the authori- 
ties, and when at length he was removed to West 
Point his conduct tliere more than vindicated 
the suspicions of Governor Reed and his friends. 
Governor Reed held his troublesome office for 
three years. During a portion of that time he 
was invested with dictatorial powers by the legis- 
lature, a departure from the constitution which 
the exigencies of the times only could warrant. 
He performed the delicate trust with firmness 
and energy, and yet with discretion. The friend 
and correspondent of Washington, he continually 
pressed upon the legislature the necessities of 
the continental forces, and enforced upon the 
people the need of co-operation, himself taking 
the field at the head of the militia when danger 
menaced. The absolute authority conferred upon 
him was at the instance of Washington and of 
Lafayette, whose letters Governor Reed commu- 
nicated to the assembly. Pennsylvania was 
strongly appealed to, and her Whigs nobly re- 
sponded. Her legislature was ever prompt, and 
well seconded by the executive ; and the thanks 
of Congress were formally tendered. But though 
better able to give "assistance to the common 
cause than any other state, the Pennsylvania 
government had to contend with a large party 



1779.] PHILADELPHIA BENEVOLENCE. 331 

of the cold, the non-combatant, and the disaffect- 
ed ; and the peculiar and heterogeneous character 
of the population of the state made strong mea- 
sures necessary to wring from the unwilling their 
share of the public burden. The contests in 
which the province had always been engaged 
with the proprietaries had educated the people 
in all the manoeuvres of party tactics, an experi- 
ence which rendered them troublesome citizens 
under the new order of things. We find, 
nevertheless, that of the continental troops en- 
gaged during the war, Pennsylvania furnished 
nearly twenty-six thousand, only three states 
furnishing more ; and the Pennsylvania troops 
were second to none, and superior to most, in the 
comfort of their clothing and equipments. The 
liberality of the Whigs of Pennsylvania was 
further shown iil voluntary contributions at 
various times, and particularly in that period 
of great distress and darkness, the spring of 1780, 
when the ladies of Philadelphia city and county 
contributed three hundred thousand dollars in 
paper currency, equivalent to about eight thou- 
sand dollars in specie, for the purchase of clothing 
for the destitute troops. New, Jersey and Mary- 
land contributed generously at the instance of 
the same benevolent individuals ; and to make 
the purchase more available, a good proportion 
of the materials procured were made up by the 
ladies themselves, to save the expenditure of 



832 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1779. 

money for labour. The subsistence of a large 
army among a people, all of whom were not dis- 
posed to aid, made the burden still heavier upon 
the patriotic ; and we need not wonder that this 
support required in some cases to be almost 
forced from reluctant farmers. Nor need we be 
surprised that the exasperation of parties, and 
the arts of the designing, fomented occasional 
disturbance. Of this nature was an attack by 
the militia upon the house of James Wilson, one 
of the signers of the Declaration, in October, 
1779. He was an able lawyer, and as such had 
defended those indicted for treason, and was 
therefore accused of friendship for the Tories. 
The house was assaulted by an armed mob. Se- 
veral of Mr. Wilson's friends were with him, and 
resisted the attack. Two persons were killed, 
and several wounded in the 'affray. President 
Reed, seconded by the citizens, suppressed the 
tumult ; but it was several days before peace 
was restored, and then only by conciliatory mea- 
sures. At its next session the legislature passed 
an act of oblivion, at the instance of the execu- 
tive council, and the actions commenced against 
the parties were dropped. 

Among the most important acts of the legisla- 
ture during President Reed's administration was 
the passage of an act, in 1779, divesting the 
Penns of all the proprietary rights except such 
as could be considered private property. Their 



.C' 13^ 



1780.] SLAVERY ABOLISHED. 333 

manors were secured to them, but the quit-rents 
and pre-emption rights were abolished, and in 
compensation therefor, one hundred and thirtyX^^a 
thousand pounds was promised and paid. Great'^^l < 
Britain also conferred an annuity of four thou- ^^^^ 
sand pounds upon the Penns. These were rather 
better terms than the founder proposed to the 
British government, and was prevented by his 
failing health from consummating. 

In 1780, an act was passed forbidding the , y 
further introduction of slaves into Pennsylvania, ^ 
and declaring all persons free, born in the state 
after the date of the act. The number of slaves 
at that time in the commonwealth was estimated 
at six thousand, and of these there are not now 
probably more than six representatives, and 
those are aged pensioners on charity. The ori- 
ginator of the measure was George Bryan, a 
prominent actor in Revolutionary scenes, who 
died in 1791, and whose tombstone in the Arch 
street Presbyterian burial-ground, Philadelphia, 
bears the record of the fact. He was the author 
of the bill substantially as it now stands on the 
statute book. The German settlers in Pennsyl-y' 
vania were the first to put on record their disap- 
proval of slavery at a very early date. The 
Friends followed them with their public testi- 
mony, and few members of this Society held 
slaves. While under the government of Great 
Britain, more than one attempt of the provincial 



834 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1781. 

legislature to get rid of the system was frus- 
trated by the predominant selfish mercantile 
interest which ruled the councils of Great Bri- 
tain in her provincial afi"airs. 

In 1781, the articles of confederation, having 
been fi^ years under debate in Congress and 
the state legislatures, were finally ratified. The 
terms of this confederation belong rather to the 
history of the United States than to that of Penn- 
sylvania ; and it is sufficient here to say, that the 
confederation compact proved rather a clog upon 
the operations of government than a benefit. 
The spur of danger was now over ; for in this 
year, on a fine night in October, the good people 
of Philadelphia were awakened by the watch- 
man's proclamation of clearer skies than the 
desponding had dared to hope for. i' Past 
twelve o'clock, and Cornwallis is taken !" was 
the formula in which the happy night custodians 
announced to the sleeping city the intelligence 
of which they had become first possessed by rea- 
son of their vigils. The war was virtually at an 
end. 

The difficulties of government were, however, 
greater than ever. In the beginning of the war, 
when patriotism and excitement nerved the na- 
tional arm and the credit of the Congress and 
of the states was good, when hope pointed to a 
speedy termination of the contest, and enthusiasm 
magnified the fruits of victory, to conduct these 



1781.] DIFFICULTIES OF GOVERNMENT. 



335 



vigorous moral and physical forces was compara- 
tively easy. Now the country was wasted by a 
long struggle, and the fruits of the victory seem- 
ed insignificant because, as yet, hardly appreci- 
able. The men who appeared the most prosperous 
in the community were those whose patriotism 
had lain silent till the issue became tolerably 
certain; and who, having husbanded their 
strength in the contest, or spared exertion alto- 
gether, now came in fresh to aid in sharing 
the benefits, whatever, they might be. Large 
fortunes were amassed by some of these quasi 
patriots, while others of them preserved their 
estates entire. Those who had impoverished 
themselves and expended time and health in the 
cause of their country, could but look with na- 
tural disgust upon the suddenly developed zeal 
of such fair-weather patriots ; and at no time in 
the history of the struggle were want of union, 
abundance of party bitterness, and a lamentable 
lack of public spirit so apparent as at this time, 
to which jubilant anniversary orations so fre- 
quently refer as the '^bright dawn of morning." 
It was a gray dawn after a dreadful night ; and 
the nation awoke, not as a giant refreshed, but 
as one after frightful and terrible dreams suffers 
the weary day to grow upon him, uncertain what 
new labour or calamity it may impose. Those 
who have studied the correspondence of this 
period, can appreciate the doubts and fears of 



336 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1783. 

even tlie most sanguine ; while others, less hope- 
ful, (and who can wonder ?) declared openly their 
disbelief in the capacity of a people to govern 
themselves. 

The army was in arrear of its pay, and actu- 
ally suffering inconvenience if not absolute dis- 
tress. The prospect of peace opened little hope 
for them, for rank and file saw nothing but po- 
verty before them at the close of the war ; and, 
it was plausibly argued, if, while in arms, and 
necessary for the protection of the country, 
justice was denied them, what could they expect 
when the need for soldiers against a foreign 
enemy was past, and the army was disbanded? 
They imagined that they saw already in the 
public mind a hostility to their interests ; and 
there was undoubtedly a strong public sentiment 
against even the semblance of a standing army. 
The promise of half-pay to the ofiicers which 
Congress had reluctantly given added to the 
popular discontent ; and the officers who perceived 
it memorialized Congress with a proposition to 
commute the half-pay for a gross sum. Pending 
these proceedings the tidings of the signing of 
the treaty of peace reached the country, and the 
uneasiness of the officers of the army at their 
position was increased. An eloquently written 
address was circulated among them, inviting a 
meeting to consider grievances. General Wash- 
ington, with characteristic wisdom, set aside this 



1783.] ARMY DISBANDED. 337 

irregular proceeding by calling, in General Or- 
ders, a meeting under his own sanction, at which 
he was present, and in a judicious address ap- 
pealed to the patriotism of the gentlemen as- 
sembled. It was enough. They had been the 
dupes to a certain degree of selfish men, who 
would profit by extreme measures without sharing 
with the army the odium or the responsibility. 
They flung away the impeachment of their 
honour, and in a series of resolutions, unani- 
mously adopted, declared unshaken confidence 
in Congress and their country, and denounced 
the "infamous proposals" of the anonymous ap- 
peal. In the same resolutions they recognised 
the correctness of an opinion which Washington 
had expressed, by requesting the speedy action 
of Congress, that *'any further machinations of 
designing: men to sow discord between the civil 
and military powers of the United States" might 
be prevented. Congress complied, so far as 
promises could go ; and during the year the army 
was disbanded, the ofiicers with five years' pay, 
the soldiers with their arms and accoutrements 
as a bounty. But the pay was in treasury notes 
and certificates ; and, for the first time in the 
history of the world, a victorious force was dis- 
banded with their arms in their hands and their 
arrears of pay unsettled — and no serious out- 
break, outrage, or damage occurred. This was 

29 



338 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1783. 

a moral triumpli far exceeding all the victories 
of the Revolution. 

There was, it is true, an emeute in Philadel- 
phia. Some eighty mutineers^ new levies from 
Lancaster, marched to Philadelphia without their 
officers, and being joined by some of the troops 
in barracks, surrounded the State House, in 
which Congress and the Pennsylvania council 
were in session. They demanded of the execu- 
tive council immediate payment of their dues, 
and threatened, if their demands were not com- 
plied with in twenty minutes, to inflict the ven- 
geance of an enraged soldiery. After consulta- 
tion with the executive council. Congress sepa- 
rated, adjourning to meet in Princeton. John 
Dickinson was at this time president of Penn- 
sylvania, and lacked the nerve necessary for 
such an emergency. Probably it was as well 
that no violent measures were attempted. Wash- 
ington despatched fifteen hundred men to Phila- 
delphia. The revolt was quieted before the de- 
tachment arrived, but the troops proceeded to 
arrest several of the ringleaders, who were tried 
by court-martial and sentenced to be executed 
— a sentence which was never carried into effect. 
General Washington, in a letter to the president 
of congress, while strongly reprehending the 
conduct of these mutineers, says: "It cannot 
be imputed to or reflect dishonour on the army 
at large; but, on the contrary, it will, by the 



1783.] MILITARY HEROES. 339 

striking contrast it exhibits, hold up to public 
view the other troops in the most advantageous 
point of light; the veterans who have patiently 
endured hunger, nakedness, and cold, who have 
suffered and bled without a murmur, and who, 
with perfect good order, have retired to their 
homes without a settlement of their accounts or 
a farthing of money in their pockets." 

Even for these mutineers there is some apo- 
logy in the severity of their poverty, and the 
influences of interested persons who were not 
unwilling to terrify Congress. And there is 
much allowance to be made for men, the terms 
of whose enlistment were a denial of the fealty 
and subordination in which they were born. 
Revolutions seldom terminate so quietly as did 
that of America ; since the very act under which 
a <' rebel" army is organized is a precedent for 
rebellions upon a smaller scale. Soldiers cannot 
be good casuists. And the Union owes enough 
to Pennsylvania to overlook much. Her Reed, 
as an energetic chief magistrate and self-sacri- 
ficing patriot, incurred contemporary obloquy in 
the cause he supported from which even Wash- 
ington might have shrunk, and descended to the 
grave at an early age, worn out in the conflict. 
The history of the gallant Wayne is the history 
of the war. Mifilin and Armstrong, the Cad- 
waladers, Irvine, St. Clair, Magaw, Tilghman, 



340 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1783. 

and many others, carried proudly the honours of 
their state through the martial struggle. 

And when we turn to the civil department, we 
are met with the name of Franklin, her adopted 
son, whose services were second to very few, if 
to more than one. Others whose labours were 
prominent and serviceable we are compelled to 
omit, not from a lack of appreciation, but simply 
from want of space. But at the hazard of re- 
peating what has been in substance said before, 
we must remind the reader that the Pennsyl- 
vania patriots, more than any other, had to 
struggle with domestic opponents and interests 
as well as with the foreign foe. If in New York 
the British influence was greater, which admits, 
of question, it was more successful also. 

The history of Pennsylvania were incomplete 
if we should pass over the name of Robert Mor- 
ris. The principal financier of the Revolution, 
he conferred services upon his country as im- 
portant in their sphere as those "rendered by any 
other of the men of those days. The Revolution 
found him a wealthy and prosperous merchant, 
the partner of Thomas Willing. He united in 
the acts of resistance prior to the Revolution, 
and was a member of Congress, and an active 
participant in public duties through the whole 
period of the war. With George Clymer and 
others he instituted a bank by subscription, in 
1780, the main object of which was to supply 



1783.] ROBERT MORRIS. 341 

the army with provisions. In 1781, he was ap- 
pointed by Congress minister of finance, and 
retained this post until 1784, pledging his pri- 
vate credit to enormous amounts, and command- 
ing by his unshaken confidence in the issue of 
the contest the confidence of others. As one of 
the first acts of his financial administration, he 
procured the charter by Congress, in 1781, of the 
Bank of North America. Its notes were payable 
in specie on demand, the first American bank 
with such a basis. This bank was afterward 
chartered by the state ; then, by a change of 
parties in 1785, its charter was repealed, and 
again, by another change, re-enacted. The difii- 
culties this servant of the public encountered, 
and the length to which he strained his credit, 
are almost incredible. He issued his own notes 
for the service of the army at one time to the 
amount of a million and a half ! The service he 
rendered in the relief of Congress and the army, 
in the restoration of public and private credit 
and confidence, and in the excellent contagion 
of a good example, is incalculable. Yet he, like 
others, suffer'ed the penalty of distinguished 
public service in contemporary reproach : the 
necessary consequence of that decision of cha- 
racter which prompts to bold action, and refuses 
to give up individuality in obedience to popular 
clamour. Posterity renders him justice; and 
the modern reader cannot forbear a sigh as he 

29* 



342 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1784. 

learns that the financier who carried a nation 
through such difficulties, fell under his own pri- 
vate speculations at last ; and that he w^ho con- 
quered the arms of Great Britain, by supplying 
the sinews of war, was himself a prisoner for 
debt in his old age. He was ruined by heavy 
land speculations, and died in 1806, a poverty- 
stricken old man amid the rising wealth of the 
Republic whose independence he had asserted, 
and whose institutions he aided to found. 

Little of note remains for us to speak of under 
the '' old constitution." Moore, John Dickinson, 
Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Mifflin, were 
successively presidents after Reed, each holding 
office one year, except Franklin, who was three 
years in the office. The two great parties, " Con- 
stitutionalists" and <' Anti-Constitutionalists," 
found no lack of matters for dispute, but in this 
undeveloped period of the state government 
there is nothing to detain the general reader. 
The unsatisfactory state of relations with the 
western Indians made that part of Pennsyl- 
vania west of the Alleghanies uninhabitable, 
until in 1795, before the victorious arms of 
Wayne, the Indians relinquished their claims to 
the greater part of Ohio and relieved Pennsyl- 
vania and Kentucky from further incursions. 
The British retained frontier posts within the 
north-western limits of the United States until 
that date, and relinquished them under the 



1786.] FEDERAL CONVENTION. 343 

treaty of commerce negotiated by Jay. But 
they were retained long enough, further to im- 
bitter the American woodsmen against England, 
and nearly to compromise the two nations more 
than once. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Federal convention proposed — Adoption of a constitution for 
the United States — New constitution of Pennsylvania — 
Subsequent amendments — Political history of Pennsylvania 
— Democratic character of the people — Whisky insurrec- 
tion — House-tax difficulties — Common school law — Internal 
improvements — Financial embarrassments — Integrity of the 
Pennsylvania legislators — Financial condition of the state — 
Coal trade — Iron, and other manufactures — Philadelphia — 
Its original extent — Present dimensions — Seat of government 
removed to Harrisburg — Conclusion. 

In September, 1786, a convention of delegates 
met at Annapolis, at the invitation of the State 
of Virginia, to take into consideration the sub- 
ject of revenue from duties and commerce gene- 
rally. Only five States were represented and 
the convention perfected no business, except to 
recommend a convention of delegates from all 
the states to meet at Philadelphia in the month 
of May, to consider the Articles of Confedera- 
tion, and propose such changes in them as the 
exigencies of the Union required. This proposal 
was endorsed by Congress, and acceded to by all 



344 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1786. 

the States except Rhode Island and New Hamp- 
shire. The convention met accordingly. Rhode 
Island sent no delegates, and those from New, 
Hampshire did not take their seats till the work 
of the convention, after many warm discussions 
was nearly done. Franklin, Thomas Mifflin, 
Robert Morris, George Clymer, Thomas Fitzim-// 
mons, Jared Ingersoll, James Wilson, and Gou- 
verneur Morris were the Pennsylvania dele- 
gates. John Dickinson, prominent in Pennsyl- 
vania annals, was present from Delaware. No 
body of men ever assembled in this country has 
exceeded this in point of talent and high-toned 
political morality ; and if, as has been asserted, 
the conservative element was predominant, and 
the general sentiment of the members was less 
democratic than is now the popular tone, this 
was a benefit rather than a disadvantage. Con- 
struction and interpretation have given the in- 
strument which they framed latitude enough; 
and no sincere patriot would desire now to 
change it in any of its essential features. If in 
some particulars it is open to censure, we can 
only wonder that those points are so few, and 
that a compromise of sectional interest and dif- 
fering opinions could produce so admirable a 
"frame of government." We are to remember, 
in our estimate of its character, the temper of 
the times and the facts of the era. The very 
authority under which it was prepared was a 



1788.] FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 345 

doubtful stretch of the powers of the delegates. 
Nothing but the personal esteem in which AYash- 
ington, who was its president, was held, and the 
weight and influence of the members as a body, 
could have prevailed upon the people to adopt 
and put in force a system which corrected the 
evils of a long war by a strong government, pur- 
chased future greatness at the expense of imme- 
diate sacrifices, and trenched upon the doctrine 
of state and popular sovereignty which the bat- 
tles of the Revolution had been fought to esta- 
blish. Revolutions unsettle commercial ethics — 
the Federal government brought order out of 
chaos, and its establishment was the last and 
greatest victory of the young republic. All 
honour to its founders ! And all honour to the 
people who endorsed their labours with just 
hesitation enough to show a due appreciation of 
the obligations they thereby assumed. 

Little Delaware was the first State to adopt 
the constitution. Pennsylvania followed ; and 
the other States came in, some unqualifiedly, 
others with proposed amendments, a portion of 
which were adopted. None of these amendments 
changed the character of the original instrument 
in any important particular, except that experi- 
ence having demonstrated the liability of a State 
to be summoned before the judiciary of the 
Union, an amendment was made to protect State 
sovereignty in this respect. 



346 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1838. 

Pennsylvania soon found it expedient to 
change her constitution, and make it more in 
accordance with the ruling republican sentiment, 
discarding the old machinery retained from the 
proprietary government, which stood in some- 
what anomalous contrast with republican usages. 
By the new constitution, adopted in 1790, a 
Senate was added to the legislature, and the 
executive power was vested in a governor, elect- 
ed annually, and eligible only for nine years out 
of twelve. Suffrage was free in effect to all 
white males over one-and-twenty. Judges of 
the higher courts held their offices during good 
behaviour. The patronage of the governor was 
enormous, and was more than once the occasion 
of violent political excitement, and always open 
to the objection of giving opportunity for the 
exercise of an undue influence. In 1838, a new 
constitution was adopted, by which the executive 
patronage was very much abridged. The go- 
vernor can serve but six years out of nine. 
Many officers hitherto appointed are now elective. 
The constitution of 1838 limited the tenure of 
judges to fifteen, ten, and five years; but this 
has again been changed. A provision in the 
present constitution makes it open to the addi- 
tion of amendments without the call of a con- 
vention. An amendment passed by one legisla- 
ture, affirmed by a succeeding one, and afterward 
approved by a direct vote of the people becomes 



1850.] POLITICAL HISTORY. 347 

a part of the constitution. The only amendment 
thus passed was perfected by a vote of the peo- 
ple in 1850, and by this the judiciary is made 
elective. 

The influence of Pennsylvania has always been 
powerful in the course of national policy, whether 
we consider it as exercised by her representation 
in the legislature, or as indicated by the expres- 
sion of her popular voice. She ranged with the 
War States in 1812. Her volunteers and their 
commanders were among the most brave and 
efficient in the war with Mexico. But in neither 
did actual hostilities or operations take place 
within her territory, if we except the prepara- 
tions of Perry at Erie, which were covered by a 
regiment of Pennsylvania militia. Even this 
*' speck of war" was not within the original 
boundaries of the state. The Erie triangle was 
purchased of the general government in 1792. 

The political history of Pennsylvania, from the 
adoption of the first State constitution to the 
present time, is an instructive study for the phi- 
losophical observer of the principles of govern- 
ment and the source of political power. Our 
limits forbid entering upon it, nor would such a 
discussion be generally acceptable. In a few ge- 
neral observations, we briefly sum the subject. 
The spirit of the people has always been intensely 
— perhaps we may say individually democratic. 
By this, we mean, that particularly with the un- 



^348 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1850. 

educated, and with the class-educated, or rigid 
disciples of sects and systems, the idea of govern- 
ment by the people, is that of such a government 
as makes not the people only, but each individual 
man, sovereign ; and the Pennsylvania multitude 
has ever been ready to rebel against any govern- 
ment or power which requires any sacrifice of 
one man or one class for the many. The early 
Quakers resisted even William Penn. The Pax- 
ton boys undertook to assume the care of the 
whole Indian relations. The people struggled 
with the proprietaries. The revolutionary party 
ruled with a strong arm, and the government 
enforced obedience, even to the length of execu- 
tions for treason. The minority stoutly resisted; 
and the right of a minority to resist seems to 
have been always a part of the popular creed. 
After the establishment of the Federal govern- 
ment, the farmers in the far western counties, 
who had in fact no market for their grain but 
that offered by the distillers, saw in the excise a 
grievous oppression. The Western rivers were 
not open. Conveyance of corn in bulk to the 
East was impossible ; and corn, in its mischievous 
essence, was almost the sole article of commer- 
cial exchange. Thus arose the bloodless whisky 
insurrection of 1790. The rebellion against the 
house-tax in 1799, and some other difficulties 
purely domestic, including even the later riots 
in Philadelphia, which resulted in the burning 



1S50.] POLITICAL HISTORY. 349 

of public buildings and cliurclies, have arisen 
from the assumptions of the ignorant to liberty 
running into licentiousness, fomented by the 
better informed but unscrupulous. 

The conservative element has gradually given 
way before these demonstrations, until, in law 
and in practice, Pennsylvania has become more 
and more democratic in practice and in theory. 
The power now held by the people would have 
terrified the most ultra of revolutionists in 1775; 
and if held by them at that time would have 
been ruinous. But while the conservative interest 
has resisted innovation, and the people have 
broken out in violence, while furious party spirit 
has perverted justice temporarily, and even made 
victims of the innocent, and elevated the guilty 
into suffering martyrs, the ferment has evolved 
good. The people have increased in intelligence. 
The passage of the common school law, twenty 
years ago, in pursuance of the principles laid 
down by Penn, and affirmed in the constitution 
of 1790, has already done great good ; and the 
political discussions which have been protracted 
from the time of the proprietaries till now, have, 
of themselves, been a school for freemen — a 
school in which many bad pupils deserved punish- 
ment and received it, as much to the profit of 
others as to their own chagrin and discomfort. 
No colony had a more heterogeneous population 
than Pennsylvania. The cauldron has seethed 

30 



350 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1850. 

with no little vehemence ; the subsidence of the 
froth and fury leaves a most excellent and prac- 
ticable consistence. The staid humanity and 
quiet firmness of the Quaker, the fiery activity 
of the Irish Presbyterians, the patient industry 
of the Germans, the conservative character of 
the English Churchmen, (evident in Philadelphia 
if not in the interior,) the restless spirit of the 
New Englanders, these form the principal ingre- 
dients of Pennsylvania character. Each class 
had its virtues, and each its faults, and each, 
without exception, had that inevitable conse- 
quence of collision with others — bigotry. In 
the contradictory composition of man, let us 
theorize as we may, the firm adherence to one's 
convictions, is the only assurance of usefulness; 
and though this degenerate to harshness, it is 
still one of those failings which " leans to vir- 
tue's side." Education and true religion correct 
its acrimony ; but without the elements which 
cause danger of political and religious bigotry, 
no people ever were capable of reaching a high 
position, politically or morally. 

One idea, seldom noted by historians, but 
nevertheless evident, William Penn impressed 
upon the character of this government ; and 
though at war with radical theories it still has 
its influence. As the proprietor and patron he 
held it a duty to employ the power of govern- 
ment in the conferring of positive benefits, as 



1850.] STATISTICS. 351 

well as in the restriction of evil. Even William 
Penn speculated in theory on great public im- 
provements. As early as 1790 the subject of 
internal improvements took the attention of the 
Legislature, and reports were made in favour of 
various canals and river improvements. The 
building of roads and bridges received the en- 
couragement and direct aid of the legislature. 
The first turnpike in the United States, that 
from Philadelphia to Lancaster, was completed 
in 1794 at an expense of $465,000. The sub- 
stantial stone bridges of the State are in won- 
derful stength and preservation, among the best 
in the world. In the whole State there are 2000 
miles of turnpike — now partially obsolete, but 
still convenient. The whole cost of the turnpikes, 
railways, canals, and bridges in Pennsylvania, 
exceeds one hundred millions of dollars. The 
turnpike excitement culminated in 1815, and 
soon after gave way before the era of canals, and 
that in turn was succeeded by railroads. 

Until 1821 these enterprises were conducted 
by private companies, aided by subscriptions on 
the part of the State. From these the dividends 
received have been little or nothing. In 1824, 
the State was first committed to the plan of in- 
ternal improvements, by the appointment of a 
board of commissioners of survey; and in 1825 
a similar board was appointed for further explo- 
rations. In 1827, active operations were com- 



352 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1850. 

menced, and from that date to 1836 annual 
appropriations were made and loans contracted. 
The credit of the State at the commencement 
was unlimited, money was abundant, and no dif- 
ficulty was experienced except in obtaining the 
votes of counties not directly in the route of the 
main lines of improvements. But these votes 
were secured by pushing the improvements into 
every practicable corner, and in some cases by 
sacrificing the direct and most practicable route 
in order by a sinuous path to command more in- 
terest. The Gettysburg railroad, upon which 
no rails have been laid, is a curious instance of 
this policy. In 1836 this policy of lavish expen- 
diture was checked. The people became alarmed 
at the increase of the State debt and the un- 
productiveness of a great part of the improve- 
ments. The operations since have been continued 
only on routes which promised immediate advan- 
tage from completion. Commonwealths which 
undertake business are not exempt from the or- 
dinary laws of trade. While a concern is solvent 
retrenchment may prevent embarrassment, but 
in a non-productive enterprise the very retrench- 
ment which necessity imposes hastens the catas- 
trophe. The general commercial distress of 1837 
and the years following added to the difficulty, 
and in 1842 the great and rich State of Penn- 
sylvania was unable to pay the interest on her 
debt. This difficulty was met by the issue of 

30* 



1854.] STATISTICS. 353 

interest certificates and the contraction of new 
loans ; and though for two or three years the 
State of Pennsylvania exposed her creditors to 
some delay and inconvenience, she has paid or 
guaranteed all her liabilities. Her public finan- 
ciers never applied the ^'sponge" or ^^ scaled" 
the public debt. Her paper issues during the 
Revolution were called in and funded at the value 
expressed on their face ; and never in her whole 
history, as colony or State, has the commonwealth 
refused to acknowledge or neglected to provide 
for her indebtedness. Indeed the presumption 
is strongly the other way ; and the shame of em- 
barrassment has sometimes operated to the ad- 
mission of full demands, which with money in 
hand she might have sternly questioned. 

The funded debt of the State as appears from 
the report of the auditor-general, made at the 
commencement of the present year, (1854,) is 
$40,367,332. The total cost of the State in- 
ternal improvements was $32,542,267. Of this 
sum nearly nine millions, expended for works 
which remain unfinished, were transferred to pri- 
vate companies or are abandoned. The total 
revenue from the completed works from the be- 
ginning has been $25,342,020. The total of ex- 
penditures to keep them in operation has been 
$19,499,857. This seems to leave a small ba- 
lance to the credit of the works ; but add to the 
debtor side the interest which has been paid on 



354 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1854. 



loans directly or indirectly pertaining to the 
State improvements — $35,157,796, — we find 
about twenty millions are to be added to the 
original cost as the expense of keeping the works 
in operation. 

Still, under the maxim of Penn, before re- 
ferred to, the State is a garner. Without her 
improvements, Pennsylvania could not have 
risen from a population of 434,373 in 1790, to 
2,311,786 in 1850. Her coal trade began in 
1810, with the offer of a few wagon-loads in 
Philadelphia, the seller of which had to make 
his escape from the city to avoid prosecution as 
a swindler ! In 1820, the quantity of three 
hundred and sixty-five tons was disposed of. 
The annual sale now amounts to over five mil- 
lions. The cost of the railroads and canals by 
which the coal finds a market, finished and con- 
templated, belonging to the state and to corpo- 
rations, is about fifty millions of dollars. To pri- 
vate enterprise the State gave the first sensible 
impetus; for before the State engaged in the 
work, and coal came into use, canal attempts 
languished. The first railroad of any length put 
in operation in the United States was the Phila- 
delphia and Columbia, completed in 1834 by 
the State of Pennsylvania. 

The value of the iron and coal and the agri- 
cultural products of this great State is enormous. 
Her iron, in the heavier products in 1850, 



ISo-l.] STATISTICS. 355 

amounted to over twenty millions. Her capital 
in farming utensils and live stock, on about nine 
millions of acres of improved land, is about fifty 
millions of dollars, exclusive of tlie value of the 
land. Her wheat crop is about sixteen millions 
of bushels, and her corn nearly twenty. Too 
much of the latter goes to the still, but we are 
glad to find the figure annually decreasing. Her 
cotton and woollen manufactures,in 1850, amount- 
ed to about eleven millions. Such are a few of 
the leading products — but the hum of industry 
all over the State turns out much more than the 
above estimated sums, on all the various products 
of this country. These estimates, of course, 
must be varied as trade fluctuates, and some- 
times one interest flags and sometimes another. 
We close these imperfect statistics — designed 
rather to give a general idea than a close esti- 
mate — with the fact that the railroads of Penn- 
sylvania, through which its trade finds vent, ex- 
ceed in extent thirteen hundred miles, including 
those now in process of construction. She has 
also over one thousand miles of canals. If the 
public has been heavily taxed to produce these 
great results, the State would still be gainer in 
the increased value of property though the past 
expense were never directly repaid. The last 
great work was the connection of Philadelphia 
and Pittsburg, at a cost, by private and munici- 
pal subscriptions, of about twenty millions. 



356 HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1854. 

A few words of Philadelphia and we have 
done. The city of Penn, originally a strip two 
miles wide, extending across from the Delaware 
to the Schuylkill, has been extended, by the act 
of the legislature (1854) to embrace the whole 
county, including an area of one hundred and 
twenty square miles, and a population of half a 
million. In commerce and manufactures she is 
daily advancing with rapid strides ; and if her 
direct foreign trade is small, her coastwise and 
canal arrivals are over thirty-five thousand 
annually. Her past history is identified with 
that of the State and of the United States. For 
ten years after the adoption of the Federal con- 
stitution she was the political centre of the 
United States, and until the commercial distress 
of 1837 its financial centre. About that time 
the vigorous arm of the executive broke up a 
central financial power, which it was alleged was 
becoming too strong for the government. He 
was sustained by the people. The immediate 
effects of the measure were distressing — the re- 
sult has proved as salutary as the discipline was 
severe. 

In 1800, the seat of the state government was 
removed to Lancaster, and in 1812 thence to 
Harrisburg. Philadelphia gained by her loss in 
this respect; for the interior jealousy of the 
<' Proprietary City," which long outlasted the 
change of government, was thus removed. Like 



1854.] PHILADELPHIA. 357 

many other public servants, Philadelpliia has 
suitered rebuke as the reward of her usefulness. 
Generous and public spirited, but sedate with 
the honours of past pre-eminence, for a series of 
years she was like a fading belle living on the 
incense of past admiration. Now her claims are 
placed on more substantial grounds. Her merits 
and her excellence are acknowledged ; the yeo- 
manry of the state, with no further cause of 
financial or political jealousy, rejoice in her pros- 
perity ; her excellent institutions are cherished, 
and the people of Pennsylvania are proud of 
their chief city. Her merchants are princes. 
And in the Girard College and other noble in- 
stitutions, the men of the past have connected 
their memories with William Penn ; while the 
men of the present, in building up Philadelphia, 
are adding to the pile, which is a nobler monu- 
ment to William Penn than any Alexandria, 
Constantinople, or pyramidal structure of anti- 
quity to its despotic builder. 



THE END. 



STIRSOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON AND CO. 
PHILADELPHIA. 



